This article by Jennifer Stisa Granick and Patrick Toomey is published in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website. Here is an excerpt.

The trove of revealing data held by phone and email providers is proving too great a temptation for the Justice Department, even when the government’s spying threatens the freedom of the press. The department’s existing rules, which were supposed to prevent abuse, have failed and it’s time for new, robust limits that will adequately protect journalists — and the free press on which our democracy depends. In a welcome step, the Biden administration and Justice Department have announced a ban on efforts to uncover confidential sources by seizing reporters’ phone and email records. And today, the Justice Department’s Inspector General announced he would conduct an investigation into what occurred. But that’s not enough.

At a minimum, the Justice Department should enshrine its new policy in binding, ironclad rules. The White House and Congress also must work together to ensure this protection is permanent by formalizing it in legislation.

The latest abuse involves the Justice Department using secret court orders to obtain details about the communications of reporters at CNN, the Washington Post, and The New York Times. Because the purported justification for these orders is secret, the public doesn’t (yet) know why the department sought them, or why a judge thought they were permissible. In at least two of those cases, the demands appear to be in connection with articles touching on the 2016 presidential campaign.

Read the full article here.