Finding WikiLeaks or journalists liable could prove difficult, WUSTL law professor says

The WikiLeaks controversy raises a number of important legal issues about national security and freedom of the press under U.S. law, says Neil Richards, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Journalists and government officials have suggested that either WikiLeaks or The New York Times (NYT) might face legal liability for publishing the contents of diplomatic cables and other leaked documents. β€œIn order to find either WikiLeaks/Julian Assange or the NYT liable, the government would need to prove two things β€” first that a law had been broken, and second that enforcement of the law was constitutional under the First Amendment,” Richards says.