Court rules its okay to wiretap anyone with information not gererally available

Another bad ruling from a Republican appointee:

Journalism took another hit yesterday when a federal judge ruled the government could legitimately tap the phones of anyone handling "material that is not generally available to the public."

As one observer noted, that's just what a free press traffics. "If the press could only report on 'information generally available to the public,' there would be no need for a press," secrecy expert Steven Aftergood told JTA.

The Judge, T.S. Ellis III was a Reagan appointee.