Newsmakers meet New Yorkers as host Brian Lehrer and his guests take on the issues dominating conversation in New York and around the world. This daily program from WNYC Studios cuts through the usual talk radio punditry and brings a smart, humane approach to the day's events and what matters most in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, Death, Sex & Money, Nancy, and many others.
https://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl
Can Snowden Come Home?
Edward Snowden told Brian that the American government is refusing him a fair trial.
Here to explain Snowden's claim: Steve Vladeck, a professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law who focuses on federal jurisdiction, constitutional law, and national security law.
Vladeck said the whistleblower statutes are "a real smorgasbord" of different laws, and they do very little to protect someone in Snowden's situation.
It's been noted that Snowden's only options were to go to either the inspector general of his agency or to the congressional oversight committee; but both groups have stated that had Snowden went to them, they would have done nothing with his information.
So legally, Snowden didn't follow the letter of the whistleblower laws, particularly because they wouldn't have accomplished much in his case.