Justice Department drops subpoenas against New York Times reporters
The U. S. Department of Justice withdrew grand-jury subpoenas and phone-record requests targeting New York Times journalists after a federal judge ruled they violated First Amendment protections. Earlier, the Justice Department had issued subpoenas to four Times reporters who had written about alleged security shortcomings of President Trump’s Qatar-gifted Air Force One, according to CBS News and CNN. The subpoenas demanded testimony and sought phone records, prompting criticism from press-freedom groups, as reported by The Guardian and NPR. The FBI director later met with White House officials about the reporting, a detail noted by The Daily Beast.
The newspaper responded by filing a sealed motion in federal court to quash the subpoenas, arguing they infringed on the ability to protect confidential sources, per AP News. A subsequent DOJ filing, unsealed by AP, revealed requests for the journalists’ and some family members’ phone records. U. S. District Judge Arun Subramanian then ordered the Justice Department to drop the subpoenas, finding the requests overreached constitutional safeguards, according to AP News and The Guardian. Following the ruling, the DOJ announced the withdrawal of the subpoenas and the related phone-record demands, ending the legal clash over the Air Force One coverage.
