{
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    {
      "slug": "2025-doj-rescinds-media-subpoena-guidelines",
      "title": "United States: Department of Justice rescission of rules limiting subpoenas of journalists, April 2025",
      "occurred_on": "2025-04-25",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
      "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
      "issue_of_the_day": null,
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2025-04-25",
      "outcome_note": "In effect since 2025-04-25; the sources cited report no restoration of the earlier rules (as of 2026-09-22).",
      "stage": "pressure",
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      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "On April 25, 2025, the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, head of the Department of Justice, the federal department that prosecutes federal crimes, rescinded rules adopted in 2021 and 2022 under her predecessor, Merrick Garland, that barred prosecutors from seeking reporters' records or testimony to identify the sources of leaks. Bondi's memo said leaks of sensitive information to the media undermine the department's ability \"to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.\" The department returned to a test that weighs law enforcement interests against press freedom, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a United States non-profit that provides legal help to journalists.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-doj-rescinds-media-subpoena-guidelines"
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    {
      "slug": "2013-us-doj-names-fox-reporter-co-conspirator",
      "title": "United States search warrant names Fox News reporter James Rosen a possible co-conspirator in a leak case",
      "occurred_on": "2013-05-20",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "barack-obama",
      "leader_name": "Barack Obama",
      "issue_of_the_day": "A 2009 Fox News report, sourced to a State Department analyst, forecasting North Korea's response to new United Nations sanctions.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2013-07-12",
      "outcome_note": "The warrant was not withdrawn from the record; Kim pleaded guilty in 2014 and Rosen was never charged. Holder's July 2013 guidelines later restricted subpoenas naming reporters as suspects.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2010s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "A 2010 FBI search-warrant affidavit, unsealed in 2013, described Fox News reporter James Rosen as a possible co-conspirator in violating the Espionage Act because he sought classified information from a State Department analyst, and used that theory to obtain his private emails.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2013-us-doj-names-fox-reporter-co-conspirator"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2013-us-doj-seizes-ap-phone-records",
      "title": "United States Justice Department secretly seizes two months of Associated Press phone records",
      "occurred_on": "2013-05-13",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "barack-obama",
      "leader_name": "Barack Obama",
      "issue_of_the_day": "A May 2012 AP report on a foiled al-Qaeda bomb plot aimed at a U.S.-bound airplane, which the government said compromised an intelligence source.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2013-07-12",
      "outcome_note": "The records were not returned and no journalist or source was charged; the Justice Department issued revised media-subpoena guidelines on July 12, 2013, after the disclosure.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2010s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "The U.S. Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records from more than 20 Associated Press phone lines during a leak investigation, notifying the news agency only after the fact; AP called the scope of the seizure unjustified.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2013-us-doj-seizes-ap-phone-records"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1955-us-eastland-subcommittee-subpoenas-new-york-times",
      "title": "United States Senate panel subpoenas dozens of New York Times journalists over Communist ties",
      "occurred_on": "1955-11-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "month",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "dwight-d-eisenhower",
      "leader_name": "Dwight D. Eisenhower",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Senator Eastland's subcommittee was investigating what it described as Communist Party influence in American newsrooms and broadcasting during the Cold War, and treated past party membership among journalists as grounds for scrutiny.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "1956-12-01",
      "outcome_note": "The dismissals and resignations at The New York Times and other papers were not reversed; the paper said at year's end it had made no further dismissals beyond the initial cases.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1950s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, led by Senator James Eastland, issued 35 subpoenas over past or present Communist Party ties in the press, and 26 of them went to New York Times staff. The newspaper protested but several employees who would not answer were fired or forced to resign.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1955-us-eastland-subcommittee-subpoenas-new-york-times"
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