Acquiring evidence
Sir, With regard to Mr Nicholas von Hoffman's column in your 26 May issue, Your columnist unfortunately fails to understand that our litigation which reached the Supreme Court of the United States involved not what evidence might be obtained from journalists but how law enforcement officials should obtain it. We never argued that the press was entitled to a blanket exemption from police searches but rather that police should use a subPoena instead of a search 'warrant to gather evidence, unless it could be shown that important materials would be destroyed or removed and that a restraining order would be useless.
We feel that to treat journalists and Other citizens who are not criminal susPects in any other way iy-inconsistent with our Constitution's guarantees of freedom of the press and the right of the people to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Using Mr von Hoffman's thinking, witnesses in felony cases should be arrested and tortured lest the guilty go free.
Dan Fiduccia, Associate Editor, The Stanford Daily, Stanford, California 94305
Previous page
