Burrowing Bushie hold-over issues illegal subpoena and gag-order against Liberal news site

[Ian David]

Why hasn't something been done about this yet?


Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists
November 10, 2009 12:01 AM

In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

<snip>

"I didn't think anything we were doing was worthy of any (federal) attention," Clair said in a telephone interview with CBSNews.com on Monday. After talking to other Indymedia volunteers, Clair ended up calling the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, which represented her at no cost.

Under long-standing Justice Department guidelines, subpoenas to members of the news media are supposed to receive special treatment. One portion of the guidelines, for instance, says that "no subpoena may be issued to any member of the news media" without "the express authorization of the attorney general" – that would be current attorney general Eric Holder – and subpoenas should be "directed at material information regarding a limited subject matter."

<snip>

Update 1:59pm E.T.: A Justice Department official familiar with this subpoena just told me that the attorney general's office never saw it and that it had not been submitted to the department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. for review. If that's correct, it suggests that U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison and Assistant U.S. Attorney Doris Pryor did not follow department regulations requiring the "express authorization of the attorney general" for media subpoenas -- and it means that neither Attorney General Eric Holder nor Acting Attorney General Mark Filip were involved. I wouldn't be surprised to see an internal investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility; my source would not confirm or deny that.

More:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/09/taking_liberties/entry5595506.shtml?tag=mncol;txt

See also:

U.S. Attorney

On April 28, 2008, Timothy M. Morrison was appointed as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. This followed Mr. Morrison's service as Acting United States Attorney beginning October 1, 2007, upon the resignation of United States Attorney Susan W. Brooks. Morrison has been with the Department of Justice for more than 19 years and has served as First Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana for most of that time. On two previous occasions, he served as interim U.S. Attorney, once in October, 1993 and for twenty months from February, 2000 to October, 2001.

As United States Attorney, Morrison supervises a staff of 30 lawyers, who serve as Assistant United States Attorneys and a support staff of about 40 persons. The United States Attorney is the legal representative of the United States Government for both civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions and serves as an official spokesperson for the Department of Justice with relation to activities occurring in the Southern District of Indiana.

Morrison served as Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Monroe County, Indiana between 1975 and 1981. He worked as a supervising deputy prosecutor in Marion County, Indiana, in the 1980's, where he prosecuted sex crimes and homicides, including two death penalty cases.

Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, Morrison obtained an undergraduate degree in political science from Indiana University in 1971 and a law degree from Indiana University-Bloomington in 1974. He is admitted to practice in Indiana state courts, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. He is a member of the Indiana State and Seventh Circuit Bar Associations, the National Association of former United States Attorneys and the Sagamore Inn of Court in Indianapolis.

More:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/ins/usa.html



Parody? No, It’s Michael Mukasey
By: Cynthia Kouril Sunday October 25, 2009 6:00 pm
http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/25/parody-michael-mukasey/


Indiana law professor available to comment on Mukasey appointment
Published: Monday, September 17, 2007
EDITORS: Indiana University School of Law Professor Dawn Johnsen is available to discuss President George W. Bush's recent nomination of former federal judge Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.
http://info.law.indiana.edu/news/page/normal/6366.html


Aggregator site hit with subpoena, gag order
​ Political aggregator site Indymedia.us was served with a subpoena by the U.S. Attorney in Indianapolis demanding the IP addresses of all the site's readers, along with a order not to reveal the existence of the subpoena.
November 13, 2009
http://www.villagevoice.com/related/to/Doris+Pryor


United States: Justice Department's illegal “fishing expedition”
posted by Bhumika Ghimire on Dec 02, 2009
categories: Advocacy, Features, News, USA
http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/02/united-states-justice-departments-illegal-fishing-expedition/

Watchdog slams ‘bogus’ Justice Dept. demand for news site’s visitor logs
http://rawstory.com/2009/2009/11/feds-wanted-data-visitors-news-site/

[blm]

1. So...what stories were being covered on June 25, 2008 that had Morrison concerned?

.

[struggle4progress]

2. United States v Indymedia.us

In January 2009, Kristina Clair received a grand jury subpoena issued upon application of the United States Attorney for the District of Indiana, Timothy M. Morrison. Ms. Clair is a Linux administrator living in Philadelphia who provides free server space for Indymedia.us, an independent news aggregation site with a left-of-center activist orientation.

The subpoena demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It instructed Ms. Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information," including email addresses, telephone numbers, records of session times and durations, physical addresses, registered accounts, and financial information. The subpoena also prohibited Ms. Clair from disclosing "the existence of this request unless authorized by the Assistant U.S. Attorney."

Ms. Clair contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which agreed to represent her. Kevin Bankston of EFF sent a letter to Doris L. Pryor, the Assistant United States Attorney on the case, explaining that Ms. Clair did not possess the information requested, objecting that the subpoena was not personally served on Ms. Clair, and arguing that disclosure of the requested information would require a court order under federal electronic privacy law. Further, the letter pointed out that grand jury secrecy requirements do not reach witnesses or prospective witnesses, and therefore the government had no basis to restrain Ms. Clair's speech about the existence of the subpoena.

U.S. Attorney Morrison replied 12 days letter with a one sentence letter informing Bankston that the subpoena had been withdrawn.

http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/united-states-v-indymediaus

[TexasObserver]

3. If the president would clean these Bushies out ...