Feds Have History of Seeking Reporters’ Records

The Justice Department said Thursday that it has subpoenaed journalists’ telephone records 13 times in the last decade.

Responding to controversy over the subpoena of an Associated Press reporter’s home phone records in May, the department released figures stating that it subpoenaed a reporter’s phone records once in 1999 and three times in 1997.

The department said that, besides the subpoenas for phone records, it has subpoenaed journalists 60 other times since 1991, seeking testimony or documents or both. The department said it subpoenaed reporters’ phone records three times in 1992, twice in 1995 and once each in 1991, 1993 and 1996.

The figures prompted a swift list of questions from Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who asked how many of the subpoenas were issued without notifying the reporter in advance, as was the case with AP reporter John Solomon. Advance notice would have allowed the news agency to challenge the subpoena in court.

Grassley also asked the department to disclose how many of the subpoenas were aimed at finding out a reporter’s sources.

“We know of no situation where a reporter was not notified of a subpoena beforehand for his telephone records except in those cases where the journalist was himself or herself the target of a criminal investigation,” said Gregg Leslie, legal defense director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The Justice Department investigation in the Solomon case is aimed at the sources for his story.

Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden said it would be difficult to determine in how many of the 13 instances in the last 10 years reporters were notified in advance and how many of the subpoenas were issued with the purpose of ascertaining a reporter’s sources.

The Justice Department went after Solomon’s records while trying to learn the identity of law enforcement officials who told Associated Press about a wiretap of Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.).

The department obtained Solomon’s records 10 days after a May 4 story about the wiretap in an organized crime investigation that led to guilty pleas by the operators of a Florida pizzeria.

Solomon learned about the subpoena Aug. 26, when he returned from vacation and opened a notification letter.