Posted August 4, 2006.

Library Connection’s “John Doe” Court Records Released

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ordered August 2 the full disclosure of court records related to Doe v. Gonzales—the challenge to the FBI’s 2005 demand that Connecticut’s Library Connection consortium turn over records of patrons’ computer use. The next day, the American Civil Liberties Union posted the documents, which include Justice Ginsburg’s October 7, 2005, decision not to reverse a lower-court gag order on Library Connection officers Barbara Bailey, Peter Chase, George Christian, and Janet Nocek; the unredacted National Security Letter (NSL) that the plaintiffs had challenged; and the September 21, 2005, New York Times article identifying the Library Connection as John Doe based on an insufficiently redacted Justice Department filing that had been posted online.

The documents include the original NSL that had sought the February 15, 2005, access logs generated between 2 and 2:45 p.m. Eastern time for a specific Library Connection member’s IP address. Another unsealed item is the September 9, 2005, ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall, who lifted the gag order specified by the NSL pending further judicial review. Judge Hall cited the September 18, 2003, remarks in which then–Attorney General John Ashcroft accused “those who fear executive abuse of the increased access to library records under the Patriot Act of ’hysteria,’” concluding that “the potential for abuse is written into the statute.” Hall also stated that lifting the gag order would pose no threat to national security because the number of people whose records were sought “would likely be in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands.”

“As an American, I am embarrassed that our government would go to such extremes to stifle free and open debate and keep nonsensitive information from the public,” said Library Connection Executive Director George Christian in a prepared statement.

Ginsburg’s directive came two months after the FBI dropped its demand for the patron records it had sought; the agency subsequently stated it also had no further interest in enforcing nondisclosure of the Doe v. Gonzales court documents.

Posted August 4, 2006.