Court Limits Government Dragnet on Journalists

An appeals court rejected an overly broad Department of Justice demand for 18 months of LinkedIn messages from many journalists, and criticized a one‑year secrecy order that prevented notification. The ruling narrows how far the state can sweep platform communications in leak investigations and recognizes the chilling effect on confidential sources. — This sets a legal precedent protecting journalistic sources and curbs governments' ability to use platform data demands and secrecy orders to bypass First Amendment safeguards, with implications for future national‑security and leak investigations.