Attorney General Gonzales weighed in on this yesterday, saying that the rights under the first amendment, guaranteeing the freedom of the press, are not as strong as the "right" of the federal government to prosecute who it wants to.
His exact words: "I understand very much the role that the press plays in our society, the protection under the First Amendment we want to promote and respect . . . but it can't be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity."
He admitted that his Justice Department is currently looking for ways it can prosecute the NYT journalists who printed the leaks about the NSA phone surveillance of US citizens.