The 24-year-old could actually be incarcerated for up to a year (the remainder of the grand jury term). Thankfully, his attorney is appealing the judge's decision and will be filing motions for his release. But this whole scenario is absolutely absurd and, quite frankly, un-American.

Investigators have labeled Wolf a "radical" and believe his edited footage contains evidence of protestors torching a police car. How is that in any shape or form a federal issue? The contention is that a federal building was damaged in the protest and so it is a federal issue. If that isn’t called reaching, I don’t know what is. A federal building should have more than adequate surveillance. If it doesn’t, it’s not the fault of a journalist with a camera.

California’s shield law should protect Wolf as he is not an extension of law enforcement or the government for that matter. He absolutely has the right as a journalist to withhold from authorities any video footage he released publicly — or not — documenting citizens exercising their right to freedom of assembly and protest, in addition to exercising his constitutional right to remain silent to protect his sources and refrain from self-incrimination.

If a crime occurred, it’s law enforcement’s duty to put a case together but not at the expense of jeopardizing freedom of the press. San Francisco police officers should be sufficiently trained with interrogation skills and evidence collecting to make a case without having to subpoena work done by a journalist. If they’re not, that’s not Wolf’s fault — and he certainly shouldn’t be punished for their lack of expertise or manpower to oversee the protest and ensure it didn’t get out of hand in the first place.

Wolf is the target of a vicious attack by the government that is flexing its muscle of intimidation in an attempt to collect information on political activists they deem as a threat. He is not a pawn to be made an example of for the government to be able to claim; "We win. You lose." If Wolf remains in jail, we’re all big losers because the U.S. Constitution will no longer stand for "We the People," but instead, "We the Government."