ACLU Comment on DOJ Attempt to Coerce Anonymous Book Publisher

November 5, 2019 11:30 am


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NEW YORK — The Department of Justice reportedly issued a letter demanding identifying details from the Hatchette Book Group about the senior Trump administration official who last year wrote an anonymous op-ed about the president. The Hatchette Book Group is expected to publish an anonymous book by the same administration official that penned the op-ed.

Below is comment from Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, in response:

“This is a wholly inappropriate and legally baseless attempt by the government to coerce a publisher into revealing an author’s identity. It’s no different than a demand that a newspaper divulge the identity of a confidential source. The publisher is under no obligation to comply.”

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The American Civil Liberties Union is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America.