Wolność słowa w USA a bezpieczeństwo narodowe. Casus WikiLeaks
Freedom of speech in the United States and national security. The case of WikiLeaks

Summary/Abstract: The publication of thousands of pages of “confidential” or “secret” documents at the WikiLeaks portal has caused consternation around the diplomatic circles and raised the question of the limits of freedom of speech in the United States, especially regarding matters of national security. Indeed, according to the terms of the 1st Amendment, “Congress shall make no law (…) abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”. Although the record suggested that this freedom is absolute (not restricted by any legislation), the later jurisdiction of the US Supreme Court (by case law) isolated categories of utterances that have not been contained by the 1st Amendment. However, the analysis of the 1st Amendment in terms of national security highlighted the issue of the primacy of state interests over civil liberties. The matter of national security, defined as a condition for allowing the development of state, the implementation of its policy and ensuring the defense as well as protection against all threats (military, internal and external), by means of measures that the State is able to use, has been a priority since the beginning of the American nation. Although the authors of the Bill of Rights assumed that the freedom of speech that was given to demos is absolute, soon legislation and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court imposed restrictions on its use. The aim of the article is an attempt to answer the question concerning the appropriateness of the supremacy of the national security interest regarding the interests of citizens, understood not only as the right to freedom of expression, but also as the right to information that is consistent with the assumption of the democratic political system of the United States.

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