Key facts
- The Justice Department sought 18 months of LinkedIn communications from journalists who together published more than 1,000 articles.
- Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote that many targeted users had no conceivable relationship to the leak investigation.
- The appeals court rejected LinkedIn's request to quash the order entirely and sent the case back to the district court.
- A Microsoft spokesperson told Ars the ruling is important for privacy and press freedom.
- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press president Bruce D. Brown said the ruling will become a leading opinion in the area.
A federal appeals court on November 10 ordered a district court to substantially narrow a Justice Department demand for LinkedIn records, ruling that the request reached journalists with no conceivable tie to a leak investigation, according to Ars Technica.
The department had asked LinkedIn to turn over 18 months of communications from targeted journalists who collectively published more than 1,000 articles on many topics, the report said. The request was not limited to journalists involved in a report that Trump said exposed confidential military information in a foreign country; the outlet was not named to protect national security secrets.
Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III rejected LinkedIn's request to quash the order entirely. He wrote that many identified users "have no conceivable relationship to the leak investigation" and were affiliated with media outlets, universities and law firms.
The panel found the district court erred in approving the request because LinkedIn could feasibly compile the records, writing that "serious security and speech claims are in tension in this case" and that "there is space under law for both." The court also faulted the lower court for not weighing a secrecy order that barred LinkedIn from telling anyone about the request for a year.
The appeals court directed the district court to consider LinkedIn's proposal to notify a single attorney at the news outlet under investigation. Wilkinson said the government should explain why that narrow disclosure would compromise its investigation.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Ars the ruling is "an important ruling for the right to privacy and press freedom." Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which backed LinkedIn, said the ruling will become one of the leading opinions in the area.