New York Times reporter and author James Risen received a flood of support Monday as more than a dozen fellow Pulitzer Prize winners called on the U.S. Department of Justice to end its quest to force Risen to identify a confidential source.

Risen says he’d rather go to jail than testify at the trial of former CIA employee Jeffrey Sterling, who faces a lengthy prison sentence if he’s convicted of providing Risen a startling scoop for his 2006 book “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration.”

According to prosecutors, Sterling told Risen about a CIA scheme to supply Iran with flawed nuclear weapon designs. The misinformation ploy fell apart, Risen wrote, after the Russian scientist who delivered the bogus blueprints noticed design flaws and tipped off the Iranians.

Risen’s legal fight against testifying has dragged on for years, despite prosecutors’ description of his compelled testimony as mere icing on the cake.

The Supreme Court declined to hear Risen’s case June 2.

It’s unclear what will happen next. Shortly before the Supreme Court decision, Attorney General Eric Holder told a group of journalists, “As long as I’m attorney general, no reporter who is doing his job is going to go to jail.” And Deputy Attorney General James Cole said, "Just because you issue a subpoena doesn't mean you're jailing anybody."

However, Risen told U.S. News after the Supreme Court’s rejection, “I don’t know what to make of what [Holder] said. … I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

The 14 Pulitzer Prize winners who issued statements Monday want the Department of Justice to withdraw its subpoena and drop the matter.

“Enough is enough,” said three-time Pulitzer Prize winner David Barstow of The New York Times. “The relentless and by all appearances vindictive effort by two administrations to force Jim Risen into betraying his sources has already done substantial and lasting damage to journalism in the United States. I've felt the chill firsthand. Trusted sources in Washington are scared to talk by telephone, or by email, or even to meet for coffee, regardless of whether the subject touches on national security or not.”

Another three-time prizewinner, Walt Bogdanich of the Times, said, “The government should let him – and us – do our jobs without harassment.”

Dana Priest of The Washington Post said, “It seems obvious now that what officials really want is to hold a hammer over the head of a deeply sourced reporter, and others like him who try to hold the government accountable for what it does, even in secret.”

"I've known Jim Risen for more than 30 years, been his colleague at three different newspapers, and while I have respected him immensely at every step of the way, I've never admired him more than now," said Times reporter Barry Bearak. "He is carrying the banner for every American journalist. And if he goes to jail, a good bit of our nation's freedom will be locked away with him.”

Reuters reporters Jason Szep and Andrew R.C. Marshall said in a joint statement: “It is scandalous that James Risen faces jail time for doing what every good journalist working in the public interest does: protect confidential sources. President Obama and Attorney General Holder should halt all legal action against James to demonstrate that their 'war on leaks' is not an assault on the First Amendment and freedom of the press.”



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A full list of statements was posted online by RootsAction, one of several advocacy groups lobbying on Risen’s behalf. An online petition hosted by the group has more than 125,000 signatures, which will be presented to the Justice Department on Thursday, followed by a National Press Club event put on by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Government Accountability Project, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Reporters Without Borders.