Thank the New York Times for Fighting Back — and Keep Going

The New York Times just won a significant battle for press freedom. After the DOJ subpoenaed four of its journalists — and then, in an act of stunning overreach, accidentally swept up the phone records of their spouses and a reporter's mother — the Times fought back in court. A federal judge grilled DOJ lawyers about their procedural failures. The Justice Department, caught having failed to follow its own regulations and potentially having given false testimony, was forced to withdraw the subpoenas entirely. The reporters' accurate story about security concerns with Trump's Qatari-gifted Air Force One — the one that triggered all of this — has since been confirmed correct.

This matters beyond one newspaper. The DOJ's conduct — subpoenas issued two days after an embarrassing story ran, a nominee for director of national intelligence who may have lied to Congress about it, and a non-disclosure order designed to keep journalists from even knowing their families' records were seized — was a coordinated attempt to make investigative journalism too costly and too dangerous to pursue. The Times refused to be intimidated. That decision protects every newsroom in America.

We want to thank the New York Times for fighting back — in court, in public, and on the record. The road ahead is long: the judge has left the door open for the DOJ to reissue subpoenas if it follows proper procedures. We urge the Times, and every outlet watching, to keep holding the line. A free press does not defend itself by going quiet. The public is counting on you to stay loud.