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Appeals court limits Trump DOJ’s access to journalists’ private chat logs

The unanimous ruling says the request would expose unrelated sources and forces a district court to sharply limit what prosecutors can obtain.

  • A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration from accessing a sweeping set of journalists' LinkedIn records as part of a national security leak probe, protecting First Amendment freedoms.
  • Prosecutors initially sought an 18-month log of journalists' private messages, prompting LinkedIn to challenge the scope in proceedings that started last year, arguing it threatened customer privacy and curtailed freedom of communication.
  • Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, held that the 'overbroad' search would 'deal a damaging blow to First Amendment freedoms,' emphasizing source confidentiality is the 'lifeblood of a free press.'
  • The Justice Department inquiry involves a leak concerning 'a top-secret United States military operation in a foreign country' and classified intelligence on 'special operations,' forcing a district court to substantially narrow the records the government may access.
  • U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Hanes of Newport News, Virginia, had initially ordered the records kept secret; the decision arrives as the administration has been making an aggressive push for reporters' files in more than one leak case.
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Appeals court limits order for LinkedIn to disclose journalists' communications in leak probe

A federal judge must narrow an order requiring LinkedIn to divulge journalists’ communications on the social media platform to the Trump administration for a leak investigation

·New York, United States
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Politico broke the news in Arlington County, United States on Tuesday, November 10, 2026.
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