shouting loudly

Feds using subpoenas to squash leaks

Federal prosecutors have issued a grand jury subpoena to the ACLU that demands “any and all copies” of a classified document emailed to the group in September.

This represents an unprecedented attempt to use a subpoena as a prior restraint on publication of the information. Subpoenas are an investigatory tool, not a means to take something entirely out of a person’s or organization’s possession. In the motion to quash the subpoena, the ACLU’s attorneys write:

Despite extensive research, we have been unable to find a single reported decision even mentioning, much less enforcing, a subpoena purporting to preclude the subpoenaed party from retaining a copy of subpoenaed documents. There is no possible argument that there is an investigative purpose to such a subpoena.

Judge Jed S. Makoff, of the Federal District Court in Manhattan, is expected to rule soon on the motion to quash.