WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge found Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus in civil contempt on Wednesday for refusing to disclose names of sources in the case of Wen Ho Lee, the former Los Alamos nuclear scientist once suspected of espionage.
Ruling in the latest defeat for reporters in the courts, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer imposed a fine of $500 a day until Pincus complies with an order to testify about government sources who provided him with information on Lee.
"In order to avoid a repetition of the Judith Miller imbroglio," Collyer wrote, Pincus must inform his sources of the order so that, should they release him from his pledge of confidentiality, he could reconsider his stance.
Miller, a former New York Times reporter, spent 85 days in jail this summer before obtaining additional assurances from her source, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, that she could testify in the CIA leak case about their conversations.
Lee filed a lawsuit accusing U.S. officials of leaking personal information about him and the investigation against him. Pincus and other reporter refused to answer certain questions about their sources.
"Dr. Lee has demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Pincus violated the Court's order that he identify his sources." Collyer wrote in a 33-page opinion.
The judge said the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter did not have a First Amendment right to conceal confidential sources.
Lee was fired from his Los Alamos job in March 1999 amid allegations he was spying for China. The government's case against him collapsed, and Lee eventually pleaded guilty to a single lesser charge.
After he was indicted, Lee sued the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice and the FBI for improperly disclosing personal information about him and the investigation.
A U.S. appeals court in June found four journalists in contempt for refusing to disclose the names of their sources in the Lee case. The journalists are Robert Drogin of the Los Angeles Times, James Risen of The New York Times, Josef Hebert of The Associated Press and Pierre Thomas, formerly of CNN and now at ABC News.
The journalists had argued they had a First Amendment right to conceal confidential sources.
