GOP Grills AG Holder; Media Shield Law; Facebook as Evidence

Chapter 1: Eric Holder Grilled by House Judiciary Committee Hearing

 

AG Eric Holder spent hours answering question by members of Congress during a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the Department of Justice’s subpoena of AP phone records, the IRS targeting of conservative political groups and even the FBI’s failure to stop the Boston Marathon bombing. Holder defended the DoJ’s effort to find the security leak to the AP but declared they they would fully investigate the IRS’s actions. We talk to Susan Ferrechio , Chief Congressional Correspondent, The Washington Examiner.

 

Chapter 2:  White House Pushes for Media Shield Law

 

In response to revelations that the Department of Justice subpoenaed phone records from the Associated Press, the White House is now pushing  a media shield law. Such legislation would protect journalists’ sources such as the person who leaked information about an anti-terrorism sting operation that led to the AP story. A similar bill was proposed in 2009 but it contained an exemption when national security issues are at stake. We talk to Mary-Rose Papandrea, Professor at Boston College Law where she specializes in both free speech and national security.

 

Chapter 3:  Social Media Increasingly Used as Evidence in the Courtroom

 

Early this month, Frank Gatto, a grounds operation supervisor at JFK Int'l Airport sued United Airlines for his injury and proceeded to delete his Facebook account. A judge in that case cited Gatto for failing to preserve evidence leaving it open to discovery by the other side. What should companies, employees and any other individuals who might find themselves in litigation know about what they put out on social media? We ask Christopher C. Chiou, Partner, Jenner & Block in Los Angeles.