Two Republican Senators from Indiana are planning to mend what one calls a “tear in the First Amendment” concerning the protection of journalists’ sources in federal cases. Every state except Wyoming have passed laws protecting journalists’ sources and notes from subpoenas in some form. But on the federal level, the white House and the Justice Department have been jailing journalists for protecting their sources with renewed zeal, including blogger Josh Wolf, who remains in jail for refusing to hand over video of an anti-globalization protest.

The Wall Street Journal has the scoop:

two influential Republicans, Sen. Richard Lugar and Rep. Mike Pence, both of Indiana, plan to reintroduce legislation limiting the government’s power to force journalists to disclose confidential sources. Many Democrats, whose party will control Congress next year, also support extending protection to reporters’ sources and are expected to co-sponsor the legislation.

Mr. Pence said in an interview that he expects to reintroduce the bill with his Democratic co-sponsor in the previous Congress, Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia. In the upper house, he said Sens. Lugar, Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) were likely to be involved as well.

“We’re suggesting there’s been a tear in the First Amendment right now, and it’s widening,” Mr. Pence said. “The only way you patch it is to do as many states have done and pass a federal statute that clarifies the boundaries.”

Mr. Pence said that some were surprised to see him and other conservatives championing a press-freedom bill. “It’s one of those things that’s a little counterintuitive for a cheerful right-winger to be involved in,” he said, but “I really do believe that the framers of the Constitution put a free and independent press in the First Amendment to protect the public’s right to know, and the only way you do that is protect reporters’ ability to keep certain sources confidential.”

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