See the decision in Bartnicki v. Vopper in which the Supreme Court held, in a 6-3 opinion delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens, that the First Amendment protects the disclosure of illegally intercepted communications by parties who did not participate in the illegal interception. "In this case, privacy concerns give way when balanced against the interest in publishing matters of public importance," wrote Justice Stevens. "[A] stranger's illegal conduct does not suffice to remove the First Amendment shield from speech about a matter of public concern."