National Jurist - November 2007 - (Page 6)

DISTURBINGTHEPEACE Investigations, subpoenas, confidential sources…and lawyers “Please call me Bob,” he said with a welcoming smile, his 64 years belied by thick, wavy hair and youthful appearance. His unassuming manner was a surprise coming from a titan of journalism and a legend in his own time — Bob Woodward of The Washington Post and Watergate fame, author of 11 No. 1 national bestsellers; two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize; and recipient of the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. And now he’s standing with me, casually chatting and rattling off stories, before accepting an award from my undergraduate alma mater. Interestingly and unsurprisingly, the law and lawyers were sprinkled liberally in the stories and discussions, and Woodward often invoked the Socratic method to make his point. “It’s late one night,” he says, “and the phone rings at The Post. Carl Bernstein and I recognize the voice as Martha Mitchell, wife of embattled U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell. She says, ‘The son of a bitch has finally moved out,’ inviting Bernstein and me to come over and look at the papers he left behind. Now, Martha was widely known for drinking too much and dropping frequent hints that Watergate was so much bigger than people knew.” Woodward looks around and asks, “What should we do?” Silence. “We called a Post attorney who advised us that the attorney general had effectively abandoned the apartment and, with the invitation of Mrs. Mitchell, we should go – and said to keep the documents in usable condition and to return them as soon as possible.” Looking back, Woodward said, the key to unlock Watergate wasn’t there. But the trip produced several stones yet unturned from John Mitchell’s personal notes. Among them was a letter signed by a pharmaceutical executive who was battling the Securities and Exchange Commission, who offered a $100K contribution for the attorney general’s help. “Now,” Woodward says, “why do you suppose we didn’t call our lawyer then…when we saw what was in the notes?” By Jon Peters Student Editor “Because of the content?” asks my friend. “Bingo. We didn’t want to be told to hand over the documents, didn’t want to risk having our attorney order us not to use the information.” Woodward and Bernstein thereafter published a series of stories that sourced those documents, with attribution via the vague phrase “according to documents obtained by The Post.” Then came a call from the attorney representing John Mitchell. Woodward recounted the conversation, beginning with the attorney’s opening salvo: “‘I know the bitch gave ‘em to you,’ he said. And I responded, ‘We don’t reveal our sources.’ The guy said the documents were crucial to Mr. Read Jon Peter’s Mitchell’s defense and…asked me to give the papers monthly recap of the to him. Since they were about to go to court, he Supreme Court at stressed the need to see what information related to www.NJPLonline.com www.NJPLonline.com attorney-client discussions. Ultimately, he threaton the Supreme ened to sue to get the papers if they weren’t returned Court page before 3 p.m. that day.” So, after copying everything, Woodward submitted the documents by the deadline, primarily to preempt any involvement in John Mitchell’s trial that would take the debate public and reveal his source. Accordingly, he didn’t consult The Post’s attorney because a dispute between the paper and Mitchell’s lawyer could have forced the reporters to reveal information before they were ready to do so in the newspaper. Woodward quickly added that it would be more difficult now to report Watergate because of the widespread use of subpoenas to obtain journalists’ sources and, as he prepared to leave, said to me, “You should use the law to get the facts and the best obtainable version of the truth. Representative governments die in darkness.” Jon Peters, student editor of The National Jurist, is a Phi Kappa Phi Fellow and Leadership Scholar at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. peters.401@osu.edu www.NJPLonline.com Editorial Team Jack Crittenden Editor-in-Chief Michelle Weyenberg Associate Editor Jon Peters Student Editor Keith Carter Copy Editor Jim Dunlap Copy Editor Ursula Furi-Perry Career Editor Shannon Harrington Art Director Nicole Wall Designer Melissa Stottlemyer Photo Editor Ray Silva Web Producer Zac Scuffham Web Designer Publishing Team Mike Wright National Accounts Manager Mindy Palmer Account Representative Elizabeth Callahan Circulation Manager Mike Burke Accountability Manager Reprints Please call FosteReprints at 1-866-879-9144 Contact Information P.O. Box 939039 San Diego, Calif. 92193-9039 Tel: 1-800-296-9656 Fax: 1-858-503-7588 Entire contents copyright © 2007 Cypress Magazines. All rights reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. 6 THE NATIONAL JURIST November 2007 http://www.NJPLonline.com http://www.NJPLonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of National Jurist - November 2007

National Jurist - November 2007 Contents Disturbing the Peace For the Record Blogs: The Death-knell for Law Reviews? Chemerinsky Heads UC-Irvine Ave Maria Dispute Raises ABA Inquiry John Marshall Establishes Veterans Clinic The Firm Report The Paper Chase Chronicles Law School Rankings at Math's Mercy Academic Freedom Called into Question St. Thomas Students Choose ‘Quality of Life’ Experience The Hidden Debt Crisis The Global Frontier International Education has to be a Part of Any Legal Education Employment Defender Career Hotline Off the Bench

National Jurist - November 2007

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