Court Rejects DOJ Bid to Access Journalists’ LinkedIn Messages
A US appeals court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to obtain 18 months of LinkedIn communications from journalists connected, however indirectly, to a Department of Justice investigation into leaked top-secret military information. The request covered journalists who had collectively published more than 1,000 articles on a wide range of subjects, rather than focusing only on reporters involved in the disputed report at the center of the investigation.
The court said the demand could expose a vast number of confidential sources with no conceivable connection to the suspected leak. Journalists commonly use LinkedIn to publish contact details and communicate with sources, making the request a potential threat to a channel central to reporting. Judges also criticized a secrecy order that prevented LinkedIn from notifying anyone about the demand for a year, leaving affected journalists unaware that their communications might be reviewed.
In a unanimous ruling, J. Harvie Wilkinson III said the lower court had treated the request’s logistical feasibility as sufficient reason to approve it, without properly weighing its First Amendment and security implications. The appeals court did not cancel the order entirely, but sent it back for substantial narrowing. It also directed the lower court to consider LinkedIn’s proposal to notify one attorney for the news outlet under investigation, rejecting the administration’s unsupported claim that such limited disclosure would necessarily compromise the probe.
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