There’s an irony to yesterday’s 2nd Circuit Court decision that the NYT must turn over Judy Miller’s and Phillip Shenon’s phone records to DOJ. Since the District Court decision that the NYT didn’t have to turn over phone data, we’ve learned that the government is already getting our phone data–all of ours, journalist or not–in the name of fighting terrorism. Not that that should affect existing First Amendment privilege, but keeping in mind that AT&T is already handing over your phone records, consider what the Circuit Court decision describes as Judy’s and Shenon’s actions.
The opinion starts the chronology with an October 1, 2001 Judy Miller and KurtEichenwald article that discusses government efforts to shut down a bunch ofcharities tied to Al Qaeda.
Widening the financial assault on Osama bin Laden, administrationofficials are preparing to freeze the assets of about two dozen morecharities and other organizations that are suspected of providing moneyand support to his terrorist operations, government officials saidyesterday.