Leakers Mess With the Trump Investigation

I wrote last week about the ethics of leaking. I did not imagine that I would be returning to the topic so soon. The raft of stories telling us that President Donald Trump faces investigation for possible obstruction of justice, though, requires that I revisit the theme. The commentariat is all agog over the news. But I’m concerned about the news behind the news.

Yes, I am deeply troubled at the possibility that the president of the United States may have committed a crime. Still, people were already choosing up sides on that one before the latest leak, and I doubt that anyone’s mind is going to change soon. A presidential obstruction of justice would constitute a serious challenge to both the rule of law and the proper functioning of democracy. But this column is not about that doleful thought. It’s about a different threat to democracy: the fact that the leak occurred at all. That fact, except among partisans, does not seem to me to be eliciting sufficient outrage.