Mike Pence: “in 1786, Thomas Jefferson said: ``Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited…”

“in 1786, Thomas Jefferson said: ``Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.'' Today a Federal appeals court in the District of Columbia upheld a ruling against two reporters who could go to jail for refusing to divulge their confidential sources. Their attorney, Floyd Abrams, said, ``Today's decision strikes a heavy blow against the public's right to be informed about its government.'' And he is right. Last week the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) and I introduced bipartisan legislation known as the Free Flow of Information Act, similarly introduced by Senator Richard Lugar in the Senate. It would provide a Federal media statute to protect the confidential source tradition that is at the very center of the freedom of the press, and I urge its support and passage. In the wake of today's troubling court decision, now is the time for Congress to reassert the first amendment, freedom of the press, vigorously by enacting a Federal media shield. Nothing less than the public's right to know is at stake.”