Reliving Ellsberg's battle
Lauren Skiba - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Metro
Through the 30 mph winds on Tuesday evening, 150 students stepped out of the cold and into the safety of the Boyd Law Building to witness a historic Supreme Court case.
Eleven lawyers - including some of the UI's most prominent law professors - re-enacted the New York Times Co. v. United States hearing that took place in June 1971.
First-year law student Jaqueline Orozco said the performance was her first.
"It's a big, significant case," she said. "You come to law school, and there are those cases that everyone knows."
The Pentagon Papers was a 7,000-page top-secret government document that contained information about the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Daniel Ellsberg got a copy of the documents and reprinted copies for the New York Times, Washington Post, and 17 other newspapers.
( DITV video feature )
The U.S. government claimed that publishing the information put troops engaged in the Vietnam conflict in "grave but not immediate danger."
The case went to the Supreme Court only eight days after the Nixon administration won a restraining order prohibiting publication, and it was over in four. The court sided with the Times' arguments.
"On Friday, an order came out for my arrest," Ellsberg - who watched the re-enactment in-person - told the audience. "It said that I had to turn myself in, but I told my lawyer, 'No, I'm not finished getting these copies out.' He told me 'You're a fugitive from the law,' and I said to him, 'Well, that's their problem, I have to finish.' "
After the re-enactment, Ellsberg told the audience that law Professor William Hines' "dramatic accounting" as solicitor-general for the government "was enough to enrage me."
And it did seem that the group members were having fun in their roles, especially law lecturer Nicholas Johnson, whose performance was said by Dean Carolyn Jones to be very accurate to his character, Justice Hugo Black.
"In point of fact," Johnson said. "I hadn't realized I had. They said maybe I was channeling Black."
After the court hearing, during the open forum, Ellsberg was joined by author and journalist Sanford Ungar and re-enactor and UI Professor Tung Yin. Ungar said that while Ellsberg was on the run, he himself was sitting in on the Supreme Court case.
"For us, as such young journalists," he said, "this was all about freedom of the press."
And when Ellsberg finally turned himself in and his lawyer told him he had a 50/50 chance of being charged, Ellsberg said he was confused.
"He told me, 'Making copies of top secret files and giving them to the newspaper doesn't ring very well for you,' " Ellsberg laughed.
A discussion continued between both the audience and the three men sitting in the front long after the re-enactment was over, but they all could agree on the importance of a strong First Amendment.
"In the end, the public does have the right to know," Yin said. "Even if it involves national security."
E-mail DI reporter Lauren Skiba at:
lauren-skiba@uiowa.edu
New York Times Co. v. U.S.
• Daniel Ellsberg leaked information about the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and Washington Post in 1971.
• The case went to the Supreme Court on June 26, 1971.
• The Supreme Court was not convinced that the papers being released would have any "immediate grave threat to the United States."
• Four days after the hearing, the justices ruled in favor of the Times, 6-3.
Eleven lawyers - including some of the UI's most prominent law professors - re-enacted the New York Times Co. v. United States hearing that took place in June 1971.
First-year law student Jaqueline Orozco said the performance was her first.
"It's a big, significant case," she said. "You come to law school, and there are those cases that everyone knows."
The Pentagon Papers was a 7,000-page top-secret government document that contained information about the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Daniel Ellsberg got a copy of the documents and reprinted copies for the New York Times, Washington Post, and 17 other newspapers.
( DITV video feature )
Video in QuickTime format, click here for free player download
The U.S. government claimed that publishing the information put troops engaged in the Vietnam conflict in "grave but not immediate danger."
The case went to the Supreme Court only eight days after the Nixon administration won a restraining order prohibiting publication, and it was over in four. The court sided with the Times' arguments.
"On Friday, an order came out for my arrest," Ellsberg - who watched the re-enactment in-person - told the audience. "It said that I had to turn myself in, but I told my lawyer, 'No, I'm not finished getting these copies out.' He told me 'You're a fugitive from the law,' and I said to him, 'Well, that's their problem, I have to finish.' "
After the re-enactment, Ellsberg told the audience that law Professor William Hines' "dramatic accounting" as solicitor-general for the government "was enough to enrage me."
And it did seem that the group members were having fun in their roles, especially law lecturer Nicholas Johnson, whose performance was said by Dean Carolyn Jones to be very accurate to his character, Justice Hugo Black.
"In point of fact," Johnson said. "I hadn't realized I had. They said maybe I was channeling Black."
After the court hearing, during the open forum, Ellsberg was joined by author and journalist Sanford Ungar and re-enactor and UI Professor Tung Yin. Ungar said that while Ellsberg was on the run, he himself was sitting in on the Supreme Court case.
"For us, as such young journalists," he said, "this was all about freedom of the press."
And when Ellsberg finally turned himself in and his lawyer told him he had a 50/50 chance of being charged, Ellsberg said he was confused.
"He told me, 'Making copies of top secret files and giving them to the newspaper doesn't ring very well for you,' " Ellsberg laughed.
A discussion continued between both the audience and the three men sitting in the front long after the re-enactment was over, but they all could agree on the importance of a strong First Amendment.
"In the end, the public does have the right to know," Yin said. "Even if it involves national security."
E-mail DI reporter Lauren Skiba at:
lauren-skiba@uiowa.edu
New York Times Co. v. U.S.
• Daniel Ellsberg leaked information about the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and Washington Post in 1971.
• The case went to the Supreme Court on June 26, 1971.
• The Supreme Court was not convinced that the papers being released would have any "immediate grave threat to the United States."
• Four days after the hearing, the justices ruled in favor of the Times, 6-3.
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