Perhaps you remember the scene.

Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is in a line at a movie and has to listen to an uninformed critic.

Out steps Marshall McLuhan from behind a poster to set things right.

At a Judiciary Committee voting session today, I tried to make the case for my bill that would allow a Maryland court to determine if a journalist could not be subpoenaed by another state because doing so would violate our reporter’s shield law.

The argument made against my bill: that decision should be made by a court in the state that is seeking the journalist’s testimony.

That court is not going to be sympathetic to applying Maryland law, I replied.

The bill lost, 8-13.

I emailed the Washington Post’s deputy general counsel, who had testified for the legislation.   He responded that it might not even be a permissible objection to make, since the local rules typically list the grounds on which one can object to a subpoena.

I introduced House Bill 370 after reading about a Fox News reporter based in New York who had been subpoenaed by a Colorado court.  The New York Court of Appeals ruled that doing so violated that state’s shield law.

The reporter’s attorney is based in Washington.

Next year, I’ll ask him to testify for the bill.