Earlier today a military judged sentenced Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison, the longest sentence for a public leak of government information in U.S. history. Manning, who provided nearly a quarter-million files to Wikileaks, will be eligible for parole in eight years. The prosecution sought a considerably longer 60-year sentence, but, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, Manning never should have been prosecuted at all. The non-profit released the following statement today:

We are outraged that a whistleblower and a patriot has been sentenced on a conviction under the Espionage Act. The government has stretched this archaic and discredited law to send an unmistakable warning to potential whistleblowers and journalists willing to publish their ...