Obama: ‘No Apologies’ For Investigating Leaks Of Classified Information

[DirkGently]

108. Suspicion of criminal activity does not trump the First Amendment

You imply there is an absolute right for law enforcement to spy on journalists wherever a supposed leak has occurred. That is not the law, and it is contrary to every decent democratic principal.

Would you make the same argument if Bush was in office?

This is a rightwing argument you're making. In the America you describe, we'd still be fighting the Vietnam War and celebrating Nixon's successful second term.


We're supposed to be the ones who can make qualitative distinctions on important issues.

The widespread collection of information, as well as the apparent delay in notifying AP, both appear to be yet another violation the government's own regulations, 28 C.F.R. sec. 50.10. In 2010, the DOJ Inspector General reported on three other violations, involving the Washington Post and New York Times. The regulations require that, "wherever possible" subpoenas of records of the news media should be "directed at material information regarding a limited subject matter, should cover a reasonably limited period of time and should avoid requiring production of a large volume of unpublished material."

None of those limits appear to have been observed here. It seems impossible to imagine how a subpoena for all the records of call to and from AP's main switchboard, for example, is as narrowly tailored as the law required. Importantly, the regulations anticipate negotiation with the news media prior to subpoena, which also didn't occur. And in any event the regulations require notification to the news media within 45 days of any receipt of any information, with another 45 days possible with additional authorization. Since the timeframe of the records is a year ago, it seems likely that the government did not abide by this regulation either. While the regulations do not allow a lawsuit, violations of them can be grounds for discipline for governmental officials.

https://www.eff.org/es/deeplinks/2013/05/doj-subpoena-ap-journalists-shows-need-protect-calling-records