Warner Todd Huston
Breitbart.com
Big Journalism
14 May 2013
The journalist group Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has penned a letter of complaint to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder after revelations that the Department of Justice obtained the phone records of some 100 reporters from the Associated Press.
The letter informs Holder that the group was “stunned” to learn of the DOJ’s actions against the Associated Press and notes that none of them could “remember an instance where such an overreaching dragnet for news gathering materials was deployed by the Department.”
“The scope of this action calls into question the very integrity of Department of Justice policies toward the press and its ability to balance, on its own, its police powers against the First Amendment rights of the news media and the public’s interest in reporting on all manner of government conduct, including matters touching on national security which lie at the heart of this case,” the letter states.
The letter continues to outline the legal implications, processes, and the law governing the DOJ’s requests for such records and ends by demanding that the Dept. of Justice “immediately return the telephone toll records obtained and destroy all copies” it holds.
The letter ends with a few final demands…
The article continues at Big Journalism.
Related: Holder Defends Justice Department in Records Seizure
Carl Bernstein: AP Phone Scandal a ‘Nuclear Event’
Reid slams Obama admin: ‘I have trouble defending what the Justice Department did’
Holder orders FBI, Justice probe of IRS
Trouble is, who will they report to?
