If Julian Assange is charged with espionage, his lawyers will be able to argue that he is engaging in protected first amendment activities, and that he has not committed any crime in publishing confidential data that he had no obligation to keep secret.

Note that this does not apply to Bradley Manning or others who may be sources and who may have committed crimes in passing classified information to uncleared people. But as much as our political elites might wish it; embarrassing the government is not a crime.