Phone Searches: Yes, It's Happened Before

The revelation that the U.S. Department of Justice used records of Fox News reporter's James Rosen phone calls, e-mails and security badge access to the State Department and named Rosen as a co-conspirator in the a case against accused leaker Stephen Jin-Woo Kim has combined with the revelation of subpoenas for phone records of the Associated Press in another leak investigation has led to a tizzy in the mainstream media. The government's actions have been called "outrageous," "overreaching," "unconstitutional," "Nixonian" and "stupid."

AP Phone Subpoenas Point to Larger Problem

(cross posted on the blog of the Counts Law Group)
The revelation that the Justice Department obtained cell and landline telephone records of several Associated Press reporters, and Attorney General Eric Holder's admission that he was "not sure" how many other searches of reporters' phone records he had approved since taking his position in 2009, is a reminder to journalists, politicians and lawyers -- and perhaps a revelation to many of them -- that reporters may not have as much legal protection for their sources as they may have thought.

Blogger Issue Destroys a Shield

Hawaii and Wyoming don't have a whole lot in common, but they will soon be the only two states that do not recognize any sort of privilege for reporters to protect confidential sources. (Forty states have shield statutes, while courts in nine states recognize the privilege in some form.) Wyoming has never recognized a reporters' privilege, but Hawaii will lose its reporters privilege on June 30, when a shield law adopted in 2008 expires.