Snowden could showcase spy claims at trial
WASHINGTON — Should Edward Snowden ever return to the U.S., he would face criminal charges for leaking information about National Security Agency surveillance programs.
But legal experts say a trial could expose more classified information as his lawyers try to build a case in an open court that the operations he exposed were illegal.
A jury trial could be awkward for the Obama administration if the jurors believe Snowden is a whistle-blower who exposed government overreach. Snowden surely would try to turn the tables on the government, arguing that its right to keep information secret does not outweigh his constitutional right to speak out.
“He would no doubt bring First Amendment defenses to what he did, emphasizing the public interest in his disclosures and the democratic values that he served,” said David Pozen, a Columbia Law School professor. “There's been no case quite like it.”
Administration officials say the possibility of a public spectacle wherein Snowden tries to reveal even more classified information to make his case has not lessened the Justice Department's intent to prosecute him, and Attorney General Eric Holder has not warmed to calls for clemency for the former NSA systems analyst.
Department spokesman Andrew Ames last week indicated there was no change in the department's intent to prosecute, and that point was reinforced by National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.
“There's been no change in our position: Mr. Snowden is accused of leaking classified information and faces felony charges here in the United States,” Hayden said.
“He should be returned to the U.S. as soon as possible, where he will be accorded full due process and protections.”
A former NSA general counsel, Stewart Baker, drawing from conversations with his former associates after New York Times and Guardian editorials called for clemency, said the issue “has been more of a media idea than something that is being seriously debated inside the government.”
Both newspapers, along with The Washington Post, have received and reported on some of the documents Snowden took.
Officials have called Snowden's leaks the single largest theft of secrets in U.S. history.
