On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal from Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper, two reporters who are being charged with contempt of court for refusing to testify before a grand jury.

Miller, a reporter for The New York Times, and Cooper, Time magazine reporter, have said they should not be forced to reveal government confidential sources they spoke to in 2003. They were charged by a lower court with contempt of court and could spend as much as 18 months in jail.

This case began after Robert Novak, co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, published the name of covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame, in a July 14, 2003 column. Knowingly revealing the name of an undercover agent is a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act — which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have laws that shield journalists in state cases, but no such laws exist federally. Therefore, when journalists are subpoenaed in federal cases, they have to testify or be subject to jail time.

Clearly, this limits the ability of people who are scared for their jobs, safety or reputation, to give information to journalists that would be useful to the public.

In 1896, Maryland became the first state to enact a shield law for journalists after John T. Morris, who published articles about voting bribery based on information obtained from confidential sources, was put in jail for refusing to testify in court. The bill was passed in less than a month.

“The Free Flow of Information Act” has been introduced in the U.S Senate to protect journalists federally.

The same type of bi-partisan support in the 1896 case should be practiced here to protect journalists and to prevent Miller and Cooper from going to jail.