Subpoenas

The court could have compelled a reporter to testify as a witness in a patient's lawsuit against her plastic surgeons who handed over her partially nude photographs to a Missouri newspaper, a federal court of appeals has ruled.

James Risen must testify about non-protected matters in the upcoming trial of an alleged ex-CIA leaker, per a court order allowing the New York Times reporter to keep his confidential source secret but requiring him to verify the accuracy of his reporting, according to a POLITICO article.

In the latest step in a seven-year effort to pass a federal shield law, Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana has re-introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would provide protections for journalists in federal courts.

A New York Times reporter and an alleged CIA leaker fired back in court on Wednesday at the prosecution's request that a federal judge reconsider her decision to protect the reporter from disclosing his confidential source in court.

Both James Risen and Jeffrey Sterling believe further review of the issue is not necessary and filed documents opposing the prosecution's motion for "clarification and reconsideration" of the judge's prior order, which largely quashed a subpoena for Risen's testimony.

An Illinois judge ruled earlier this week that while the state's shield law covers student journalists, more than 500 email messages between a Northwestern University professor and his students investigating a 33-year-old murder case must still be turned over to state prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors launched another offensive last week in the battle to force a New York Times reporter to testify in the upcoming trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, claiming he plans to defend himself by blaming others for leaked information.

New York Times reporter James Risen will not need to reveal his confidential source in the leak trial of a former CIA officer because the U.S. government failed to show a compelling interest in his testimony and an inability to find the information elsewhere, a federal judge said in an opinion made public Wednesday.

A New York Times reporter will not have to reveal a confidential source when he testifies in the trial of a former CIA employee accused of leaking classified information, a federal judge ruled late last week regarding one of the highest-profile journalist subpoenas in recent years.

An Internet service provider in Colorado earlier this month asked a federal court to throw out a magistrate judge’s ruling that, the provider says, ignored legal precedent regarding the unveiling of anonymous Internet posters.