In a major declaration of Justice Department policy on Wednesday, The New York Timesreported that Attorney General Merrick Garland has issued a rule prohibiting federal investigators from seizing reporters communications, or from compelling them to turn over their notes or testify, as part of investigations into internal leaks.
"The rules institutionalize — and in places expand — a temporary policy that Attorney General Merrick B. Garland put in place in July 2021, after the revelation that the Justice Department, under Attorney General William P. Barr, had secretly pursued email records of reporters at The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN," reported Charlie Savage. "The broad prohibitions are a major change in how the Justice Department has come to approach leak investigations in the 21st century, when it began a crackdown that spans administrations of both parties and has put pressure on reporting on matters of national security."
“Because freedom of the press requires that members of the news media have the freedom to investigate and report the news, the new regulations are intended to provide enhanced protection to members of the news media from certain law enforcement tools and actions that might unreasonably impair news gathering,” said Garland in his announcement of the new policy.
Last year, a report by The Timesdetailed the efforts to seize reporters' emails in leak investigations, which began just before Barr left office.
"The Dec. 22 request, one of Mr. Barr’s last acts in office, was part of a major escalation by the Trump administration during its final weeks in power of a yearslong campaign to crack down on leaks of classified information to the news media. The Trump Justice Department also sought New York Times reporters’ records in that period," reported Katie Benner and Charlie Savage. "The Biden Justice Department had disclosed the effort — which also included seizing the reporters’ phone records — last month, leading to the unsealing of the Post docket."
Barr, a believer in so-called "unitary executive theory," or the idea that the president's powers are effectively unchecked by the other branches, was highly controversial for his efforts to use the DOJ to target former President Donald Trump's political enemies and interfere in cases the former president disagreed with.