This should be an interesting legal test, the first time a criminal grand jury subpoena has been used in an attempt to seize leaked material. The ACLU website reports and contains links to materials. The Justice Department filed suit in federal district court, Southern District of New York using the 1917 Espionage Act. The ACLU contends that there is nothing very secret and only mildly embarrassing to the government. Now that they have our attention...!
"The government's attempt to suppress information using the grand jury process is truly chilling and is unprecedented in law and in the ACLU's history," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "This subpoena serves no legitimate investigative purpose and tramples on fundamental First Amendment rights. We recognize this maneuver for what it is: a patent attempt to intimidate and impede the work of human rights advocates like the ACLU who seek to expose government wrongdoing."
The quote is from the ACLU story noted below, and the image is from the ACLU website.
Read a second Washington Post article
The ACLU’s Motion to Quash is online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/27648lgl20061211.html
The grand jury subpoena that was issued to the ACLU is at: www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/27652lgl20061120.html
Declarations regarding facts in the case were also filed by ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero at www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/27649lgl20061211.html, ACLU Senior Corporate Counsel Terence Dougherty at www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/27651lgl20061211.html and attorney Joshua Dratel. They are online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/27650lgl20061211.html
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