I cited the Espionage Act specifically because it has almost exclusively been used against leakers in recent years because there is not legal defense for a leaker who releases something that is in the common people's best interest to have released. There is essentially no defense Snowden's lawyers can take against that charge where they could possibly win, and that in itself is a big issue.

We don't need to make leaking all things all the time legal, but we need our legal system and our courts to have the option to decide whether or not something is in the people's best interest to have released and then pardon those leakers on a case by case basis, punishing those who aren't. It's a case of balance.