There’s a famous exchange in Robert Bolt’s play A Man for All Seasons between Thomas More, who is Henry VIII’s lord chancellor, and William Roper, his son-in-law to be. More is refusing to sanction the king’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, a stand that could (and will) cost him his life. Roper urges More to arrest a dangerous enemy who, inconveniently, has broken no laws.
The scene is commonly cited as an exhibit of the kind of courage and principle there’s too little of these days. Recent events suggest we’ve got it wrong. Maybe Roper’s the one to admire.
Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that.
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned around on you—where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast—man’s laws, not God’s—and if you cut them down—and you’re just the man to do it—d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.
Ten members of the Society of Professional Journalists and several ethics nannies at Poynter just passed out hearing this. But, I am going to be straight with you and proclaim that if Wolff burned some of his sources, as I suspect, I have ZERO problem—in this case.
This is an exceptional administration that requires extraordinary measures and treatment. Burning sources, IN THIS CASE, is outweighed by the public service of telling the whole truth about this gang of chicken-brained delusional incompetents armed with nuclear weapons. I don’t give a flying fug if Wolff “betrayed the confidence” of Steve Bannon, or Steve Miller, or Dina Powell or Kelly Conway or Gary Cohn or Sam Nunberg or any other quisling lowlife that enables this monstrous man. Good for him. Unlike the Peter Bakers, the Maggie Habermans or the Robert Costas of the world, Wolff doesn’t have to worry one minute about placating any of these assholes in order to keep beat access open and not be declared PNG by the ruling circle.
I want to be clear: when I taught interviewing as the art of seduction, I forcefully made it clear that there is always an ethical chalk line that should not be crossed (even if it is always not clear where that line was). I told them, do NOT cross the line once you have determined its whereabouts but when you come back to write your story there better goddamn be some chalk on the soles of your shoes as evidence that you at least came right up to the line and squeezed every drop out of your sources.
If I had been Wolff’s editor, I would have said, in this case there is no line. Do whatever you have to bring back the real story. Democracy demands it. And that’s what he did—though I hardly believe that was Wolff’s civic commitment. But he DID perform an invaluable public service . . .
(Two other attorneys who didn’t represent Wilson but were tangentially involved in his case and knew about his admission also signed the affidavit.)
The other day I got an e-mail from Winston. He told me that last October Logan and a collaborator, Berl Falbaum, published a book with the blunt title Justice Failed: How “Legal Ethics” Kept Me in Prison For 26 Years. Winston said the book had been “ignored entirely by the Chicago media” and he felt it deserved some ink.
