A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the contempt of court citation against a freelance journalist who is refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating an anarchists' protest he videotaped.
A federal grand jury subpoenaed Joshua Wolf to acquire the 30 minutes of unpublished material, but he refused and was ordered jailed Aug. 1. He was released a month later as he appealed his case.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a 1972 Supreme Court precedent requires everyone, including journalists, to appear before grand juries if they have been summoned.
"The Supreme Court has declined to interpret the First Amendment to 'grant newsmen a testimonial privilege that other citizens do not enjoy,'" a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appeals court wrote.
Wolf, 24, videotaped a July 2005 protest where anarchists allegedly vandalized a San Francisco police car and an officer suffered a fractured skull after being hit. The anarchists were protesting a G-8 international economic conference in Scotland.
Wolf sold some of the footage to San Francisco television stations and posted it on his Web site, but refused to turn over unpublished material. U.S. District Judge William Alsup found him in contempt of court and ordered him jailed.
Jose Luis Fuentes, Wolf's lawyer, said he would ask the appeals court to allow him to remain free while he petitions the court to reconsider the issue with a larger panel of 15 judges.
Theodore Boutrous Jr., a lawyer for the California First Amendment Coalition and other journalism groups, said he would support those efforts.
Although the incident Wolf caught on video involved San Francisco police, federal authorities investigated because it involved destruction of federally funded property.
