James P. Fleissner (Jim) is an American attorney and a Professor of Law at

Mercer University School of Law Mercer University School of Law (historically Walter F. George School of Law) is the professional law school of Mercer University. Founded in 1873, it is one of the oldest law schools in the United States; the first law school accredited by the ...

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

. While at Mercer, Fleissner has remained Special Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy Special Counsel. As Deputy Special Counsel, Fleissner was lead counsel in litigation regarding motions filed by journalists to quash subpoenas and contempt proceedings in the

CIA leak grand jury investigation The CIA leak grand jury investigation (related to the "CIA leak scandal", also known as the "Plame affair") was a federal inquiry "into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee's identity", a possible v ...

CIA leak grand jury investigation

Also see

Fleissner is deputy to Special Counsel

Patrick Fitzgerald Patrick J. Fitzgerald (born December 22, 1960) is an American lawyer and partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom since October 2012. For more than a decade, until June 30, 2012, Fitzgerald was the United States Attorney f ...

in the

Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

investigation into allegations that one or more government officials illegally disclosed the identity of a CIA agent. As Deputy Special Counsel, he briefed and argued the case to the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court. Fleissner argued that a

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

protection exists for reporters, but only in a limited way, such as for intimidation or bad-faith investigations.

Education

Fleissner attended

Marquette University High School Marquette University High School (MUHS) is a private, all-male, Jesuit, Roman Catholic school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), an acc ...

where he was a championship debater for the school's Webster Club. After graduating in 1975, he went on to coach the debate team at his alma mater while attending

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

. As a debate coach, he became famous for his long-distance driving skills to tournaments, and became known forever as LDD. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in 1979 and earned a J.D. in 1986 from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

Career

Fleissner has been a member of the Mercer Law Faculty since 1994. The courses he has taught include Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure: Constitutional Dimensions, Criminal Procedure: The Litigation Process, Trial Practice, and Evidence. He has been a visiting professor at

Georgia State University College of Law The Georgia State University College of Law is a law school located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1982, it is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. In addition to the J ...

, Spring 2002 (Criminal Law) and the

DePaul University College of Law The DePaul University College of Law is the professional graduate law school of DePaul University in Chicago. The College of Law’s facilities encompass nine floors across two buildings, with features such as the Vincent G. Rinn Law Library and ...

, Spring 2004 (Criminal Law), Summer 2004 (Evidence), Fall 2004 (Criminal Procedure), and Spring 2005 (Evidence). Before joining the Mercer faculty, Fleissner worked as Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago from 1986 to 1994. During a leave of absence from Mercer Law School (January 2003-July 2005), Fleissner was Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of Appeals, Criminal Division, for the Office of the United States Attorney, Northern District of Illinois. Now, he is a Deputy Special Counsel in

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

Office of Special Counsel The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Prot ...

. As Deputy Special Counsel, Fleissner managed litigation regarding motions filed by journalists to quash subpoenas and contempt proceedings in the

. Fleissner is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Georgia.

Media

After the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry N ...

, Fleissner appeared on the PBS "Newshour with Jim Lehrer," CNN, and MSNBC to discuss the prosecutions and other federal criminal matters.

Major cases

*JUDITH MILLER, PETITIONER v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA *MATTHEW COOPER AND TIME INC., PETITIONERS v. UNITED STATES OF AMERIC

*GOVERNM ENT’S MEMORANDUM IN OPPOSITION TO MATTHEW COOPER’S MEMORANDUM REGARDING THE CONTEMPT SANCTIO

Sources

Extent of press rights debated Washington Times December 08, 2004

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060622145326/http://law.mercer.edu/faculty/bio.cfm?staffid=46 Jim Fleissner biographyat

Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 ...

School of Law
Office of Special Counsel

Statement of James P. Fleissner concerning certain provisions of H.R. 1710, the Comprehensive Antiterrorism Act of 1995, June 12, 1995.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleissner, James People associated with the Plame affair American legal scholars Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers Living people Marquette University alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni DePaul University people Mercer University faculty Year of birth missing (living people)