Michigan Attorney General Slaps Reporter With Bogus Subpoenas For Doing Her Job

from the abuse-of-power dept

Tue, Mar 10th 2015 8:09am — Mike Masnick

Why is it always the state Attorneys General? Time and time again we see examples of state AGs who seem to think they're above the law and can abuse their position to attack those they dislike. The latest? Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. Apparently, he was none too happy that Huffington Post reporter Dana Liebelson was investigating juvenile prison conditions in the state, and had a representative from his office follow her for two hours across the state to slap her with two separate, but equally questionable, subpoenas, demanding all of her notes:

As Liebelson notes on her Twitter feed, she had had permission to visit the prisons, and agreed not to bring in a recording device. She noted that she followed all the rules that she was given for reporting from the prison -- and yet, she immediately gets slapped with a subpoena demanding her notes.

And she wasn't the only one. Another report notes that Schuette also sent a subpoena to Michigan Radio, demanding its recording of a prisoner/attorney interview.

Of course, after Liebelson's story started getting social media and press attention, Schuette's office quickly backed down, and promised to rescind the subpoenas. The excuse given by his office, to MLive, is absolutely ridiculous:

A spokesperson for Schuette, responding to a request for comment, issued a statement indicating a civil service attorney had been "doing the department's job of defending the state" from lawsuits.

The attorney "followed a common legal procedure" of subpoenaing information from individuals "entering Michigan prisons to speak to prisoners who are suing state taxpayers," said spokesperson Andrea Bitely.

That makes no sense at all. Defending the state from lawsuits should never involve sending reporters subpoenas demanding all of their notes. It's a clear intimidation technique that violates all basic concepts of a free and open press.

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Filed Under: bill schuette, dana liebelson, journalism, michigan, prisons, subpoenas

38 Comments

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Ninja (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 7:31am

Will he get punished for the abuses? No? Then expect this to keep happening.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:15am

Re:
This.
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TheResidentSkeptic (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:31am

USA - formally a two-class country.
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R.H. (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:32am

Re:
I can't speak for any other Michigan voters but, I won't be voting for an AG that tries to suppress the press.
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That One Guy (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:34am

Re:
It's not all bad, while he'll of course face no punishment for his actions, as this makes clear, the best way to defend against vindictive actions like this are to go public with them, as no politician likes to have his or her bullying made public.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:35am

Re: Re:
That.
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KoD (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:37am

Is no one else amused by a reporter having the name Liebelson?
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Anon, 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:37am

My experiance...
My family knows him -- he's as single minded as this appears. Unless he's given reason for pause he's act on id.
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Ninja (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:40am

Re: Re:
Voting the guy out is a nice punishment considering you are not in a bipartisan setup where both parties are more of the same. But even so, people often still vote for such idiots mostly out of ignorance and lack of interest.

But this is not enough, it doesn't stop a person that gets the job from abusing it, getting rich and walking away with nothing. We need real punishment like fines, stripping him off the position, jail time. Getting a bunch of people pissed off on you is worth it's weight in cash. Jail time and cash extraction would make people think twice before abusing their power.
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Pragmatic, 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:46am

Re:
I remember when we had a Constitution. I wonder what happened to it? *Looks around*
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 9:11am

Does pencil and paper qualify as a recording device?
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John Fenderson (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 9:15am

Re:
I'm a technical guy, not a legal one, so my strong initial reaction to that question is "of course writing equipment counts and recording devices." However, I also know that's not what the court means. They mean devices that capture and record the light bouncing off of the objects and the vibrations in the air.
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That One Guy (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 9:17am

Re: Re:
Well after they made a copy to fool the tourists, I believe congress and the various other government agencies took turns using it as a doormat, makeshift 'paper' to blow their noses on, source of extra toilet paper, and similar uses.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 9:22am

Just one of a string of questionable actions from him
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette appears to have zero regard for either his constituents or the law, at least in this Michigander's opinion.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 9:34am

Re: Re:
That was intended to be somewhat sarcastic.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 9:42am

Re: Re:
The argument could be made that technically recording devices store data regardless of the method by which this is accomplished. Are not historical documents that predate the audio-visual technology referred often referred to as historical "records"?

(Takes off pedantic hat)
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SilverBlade, 10 Mar 2015 @ 9:44am

Dropbox people, Dropbox!

Reporters should be using an online service like Dropbox for situations like this, so that they can ask for notes all day long, the reporters lose nothing.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 9:45am

Re: Re: Re:
The other thing.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 10:08am

Re:
I think you miss the point. She agreed not to carry any "recording devices" in with her. I think that would probably preclude and device capable of connecting to a cloud based service. Hand written notes can be photocopied before being turned over to prevent losing them - which is not the point of the request. They want them turned over so that they can get an idea of where the story will be headed prior to it's being published so that they can counter it or try to suppress it before it is released.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 10:09am

You're thinking about this all wrong...
Bill Schuette is simply working around the redactions that the juvenile justice system has been making (for national security reasons!) in material he requested from them.

That's gotta be it!
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John Fenderson (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 10:18am

Re: Re: Re:
Oops. Here, let me self-whoosh: *whoosh*

Nonetheless, I really think it is a very interesting question!
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John Fenderson (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 10:23am

Re: Re:
"Hand written notes can be photocopied before being turned over to prevent losing them - which is not the point of the request."

It's not? I honestly thought that the major point of the request was to suppress the notes. Perhaps I've become too cynical, but I think that's a reasonable supposition.

"They want them turned over so that they can get an idea of where the story will be headed"

If I were a reporter in that situation, I'd very likely make a lot of notes that are just nonsense things that I made up on the fly. I'd know which notes were real and which were lies, but nobody else could be sure. I think that it would be truly hilarious to see what the AG would do with such a jumble.
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 10:24am

Recourse is needed!
In a different case Scott Greenfield mentioned:

"Our criminal justice system depends on honesty. It’s also based on the principle that people who do wrong should be punished. Prosecutors, however, often avoid any consequences for their misbehavior, even when it is repeated.

Worse yet, prosecutors are also immune from civil suit, under a Supreme Court-created doctrine called “absolute immunity” that is one of the greatest, though least discussed, examples of judicial activism in history. So prosecutors won’t punish prosecutors, and victims of prosecutors’ wrongdoing can’t even sue them for damages.

That leaves courts without much else to do besides throwing out charges in cases of outrageous misconduct. But if we care about seeing the law enforced fairly and honestly, we need more accountability."

http://blog.simplejustice.us/2015/03/10/other-peoples-solutions/

That part about "absolute immunity" links to a Huffington post article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/01/prosecutorial-misconduct-new-orleans-louisiana_n_35 29891.html

But what I want to say is that the constitution needs to be amended so that this 'absolute immunity' is removed and some reasonable recourse for prosecutorial misconduct is available for anyone feeling the need, in such a way that the Supreme Court cannot stick their noses in it again.
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limbodog (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 10:55am

Re:
>Will he get punished for the abuses? No? Then expect this to keep happening.

This bugs me about our reporters. It seems to me they should be employing socratic irony when writing about a story like this.

There should be a stream of questions from all reporters making it unavoidable: "What punishment will the AG receive for abusing their power in this manner?"
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Jay Lahto (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 11:15am

It's not like the old days anymore, when a Made Man wouldn't bring shame on the Family.

Consigliere Schuette would be exiled back to the Old Country.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 11:29am

Re: Re: Re:
Even if the notes were confiscated without a copy being retained, the reporter would likely remember enough information to publish a very damning article. However, confiscating the notes would allow two other possibilities:

1. Although the Supreme Court has roundly rejected, prior restraint, lower courts still grant it from time to time, especially when it's requested by officials within the same criminal justice system.

2. Even if they didn't get out ahead of it, it would allow them to know what information the reporter thought important enough to write down and would allow them time to prepare a defensive response before the story was published.

Also your suggestion of what you would do is a little bit like Monday morning quarterbacking. The reporter likely had no idea that they would subpoena the notes beforehand - after all they granted her access to the prisons in the first place. Why would she suspect that such measures would be necessary? After it happens is a little late for such counter measures.
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art guerrilla (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 12:31pm

Re: Re:
emma goldman famously said: if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal...

well, through voter roll scrubs, etc, The They (tm) don't have to... in fact, i do NOT 'trust' our UNAUDITABLE computer-based voting systems, per-i-od...

i don't think we can vote our way out of this mess; hasn't worked so far, and people been trying a long time and going backwards for their trouble...
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Josh, 10 Mar 2015 @ 12:33pm

I can't speak for why it's always an Attorney General
But, as a Michiganian, I can give my opinion of why it's Schuette this time. It's because the man is an ass, and an ideologue.

Currently, he is fighting gay marriage becoming legal in this state, because "the voters have spoken" (over ten years ago).

He is also currently fighting legal medical marijuana in the state, even though the voters have spoken in favor of it, because he doesn't like it.

He's an embarrassment to many of us in the mitten.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 12:59pm

Encrypt it
Following precedent from the police, she should give them only an encrypted copy of the notes, and not give them the password.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 1:00pm

Re: Re:
The difference is that writing devices are indirect; they pass through the human brain. "Recording devices" are direct, they record even what the human didn't see or hear.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 1:03pm

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is a criminal. I'm sure he'll have a long govt career.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 1:27pm

Re:
Yes, he'll be punished by being elected the next governor of Michigan.
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art guerrilla (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 1:51pm

Re: Re:
making Empire's next 'logical' (in an eee-vil way) move to have official state media credentials, AND control the inertnet tubes such that there is no leakage around the edges...

so, no pub, no story, no sheeple to bleat...

it is happening right in front of us, kampers...
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That One Guy (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 2:14pm

Re: I can't speak for why it's always an Attorney General
Cute. So when he's in favor of something, he uses the 'the voters have said they want X' excuse, and when he's not in favor of something, even if the voters are, suddenly his thoughts on the issue are all that matters.

Makes it pretty clear he doesn't care what those in his state actually want, he's only interested in using them as an excuse to do something when it's convenient.
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Coyne Tibbets (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 2:35pm

Play nice
Someone needs to confiscate his subpoena pen, and keep it out of reach until he learns to play nice with others.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 4:17pm

Re: Re: Re:
Whereas I expect that the main reason for the subpoena would be to facilitate violent retribution against any prisoner who gave the reporter useful information.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 7:29pm

if only there were laws in place to stop this sort of overreach, and people charged with upholding those laws.

Oh.

Oh and nothing bad can happen because he is immune to the laws others are bound by?

Perhaps it is time to demand the system be changed and make sure that EVERYONE faces the same laws & punishments.
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Sheogorath (profile), 11 Mar 2015 @ 2:27pm

Re:
Um, I think you're the only one pronouncing it incorrectly.
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