Along with a bipartisan group of his colleagues, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff will ask the U.S. Supreme Court today to recognize a federal shield law meant to protect journalists and their confidential sources.

Shurtleff shored up support from attorneys general in 33 states to weigh in on the case of a New York Times reporter ordered jailed for refusing to reveal the identity of an anonymous source during a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.

Utah's top law enforcer hopes the friend-of-the-court brief, to be filed today, will encourage the top court to hear the case and institute a federal protection akin to those found in nearly every state in the nation.

"I believe very strongly in the First Amendment and a free press," Shurtleff said. "We need to protect reporters' right to have their sources protected. In all senses, we are better off by having an informed public."

Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia have legally recognized reporters' privileges, either through statute or established case law. Wyoming is the only state that has not addressed the matter.

Utah's shield law is born out of case law, but Shurtleff said the trend is for states to pass a statute to formally recognize reporters' rights. "We could do better here, I think, through statute."

Brigham Young University journalism professor Joel Campbell applauded Shurtleff's initiative, which was done as members of Utah's journalism community considered asking for his help.

"I'm really happy," he said. "I'm glad that our Attorney General is one of those who have decided to take the lead in this effort."

A federal privilege would come in especially handy in states like Utah, which has a weaker — and sometimes downright ineffective, according to Campbell — shield law than other states.

New York Times correspondent Judith Miller was ordered to serve 18 months in prison after she refused to reveal the identity of an anonymous source to a Justice Department special prosecutor. Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper received an identical sentence. The confidential source is believed to have leaked the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the pair.

In the Supreme Court brief, the state attorneys general suggest a balancing test that would weigh the public interest in a reporter's ability to gather news against the need to disclose confidential sources, according to the Utah Attorney General's Office.

Courts across the country, at the state and federal level, have disagreed on whether journalists are entitled under the First Amendment to keep confidential sources secret, even in the midst of criminal investigations.

It is necessary, Shurtleff said, to clarify the relationship between reporters and their sources, and to extend the protection to the federal level.

"It only makes sense in fairness to every reporter to know that that privilege is going to be there whether it's the state government or federal government doing the investigation," he said.

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com