A federal judge in California supported a reporter's right to protect confidential sources on Thursday, ruling in favor of Washington Times national security reporter Bill Gertz on First Amendment grounds. In a ruling that could influence similar cases in future, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney found that Mr. Gertz could not be compelled to answer questions about a May 16, 2006, article about a Chinese espionage case because his First Amendment right to protect his sources outweighed the government's need to identify those sources.