FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: media@cldc.org

Civil Liberties Defense Center Files Motion to Quash Reddit Grand Jury Subpoena in Washington D.C.

Washington, D.C.  – Today, Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) filed a motion to quash a grand jury subpoena Reddit received from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demanding the private information of an anonymous Redditor. The motion was filed in federal court in Washington, DC.

This comes after CLDC successfully stopped an earlier attempt by DHS, in which an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigator in Virginia had submitted a blatantly illegal “administrative summons” to Reddit demanding that it produce extensive private information about our client, who had posted statements critical of ICE, among other political topics. CLDC immediately filed a motion to quash (asking the court to throw out the summons) in federal court in the Northern District of California. The government immediately withdrew that request, rather than defend it in court.

The very day after we voluntarily dismissed our motion to quash the administrative summons, DHS/ICE changed tactics and used a backdoor strategy, issuing a “grand jury subpoena” to attempt to force Reddit to disclose even more information to a secret grand jury in Washington, DC. The grand jury process, sealed from public view, is supposed to be a narrow, targeted means to bring federal criminal charges. But the low standard of proof required for a grand jury indictment makes those proceedings vulnerable to prosecutorial abuse and government overreach. Although we are unable to learn the details because of the secrecy rules, in the current case the government appears to be subverting legal process in retaliation for political speech that criticizes immigration policies and enforcement.  We expect the DC U.S. Attorney’s office to respond to our motion, and then Judge Boasberg will rule on whether Reddit must unmask the identity of an anonymous Reddit user, or if the Trump regime has violated the U.S. Constitution in its attempt to chill the speech of Americans.

CLDC will continue to stand up for First Amendment rights, especially the rights of those who speak out against the unconscionable actions of ICE and the current federal administration.