A federal district judge ruled that the FBI could keep secret its rules for spying on journalists without a court warrant. The Freedom of the Press Foundation had sued in 2015 to obtain the rules. The judge found that the FBI property withheld documents including a policy implementation guide, a domestic operations guide, and draft media guidelines. (Courthouse News Service, March 14, 2017, by Nicholas Iovino)
Leaked documents last year showed that the courts had no say under FBI rules allowing agents to obtain journalists’ phone records with only internal department approval. (The Intercept, June 30, 2016, by Cora Currier)