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Can an Attorney General sign a warrant? Isn't it supposed to be a judge who signs warrants?
by 3825 13y ago
Can an Attorney General sign a warrant? Isn't it supposed to be a judge who signs warrants?
- bradleyjg 13y agoDOJ regulations require that the AG approve ('sign off' on) the request for a warrant targeting a journalist, but you are right that only a judge (well at least a magistrate) can actually authorize one.
- 3825 13y agoI fail to see how it is newsworthy that the AG requested a warrant unless there's some kind of a trend that AG approved requests are disproportionately granted.
- bradleyjg 13y agoThe reason that the AG has to sign off on the request, as opposed to the usual process where a line prosecutor a few years out of law school does so on his own initiative, is because of the acknowledged conflicts of values inherent in investigating journalists for doing their jobs. So even the DOJ acknowledges it's something of a big deal, they just argue it was justified in this instance.