Gag Order on "John Doe" Lifted, But Only After Patriot Act Passes

-- Library Journal, 04/14/2006

In a case that galvanized the library world, "John Doe," a Connecticut library group that challenged a gag order regarding its recipient of a secret subpoena under the USA PATRIOT Act, will finally be allowed to speak, as federal prosecutors dropped their appeal on April 12. While the New York Times headline stated, "Librarians Win as U.S. Relents on Secrecy Law," the victory was hardly unalloyed. "While I am very relieved that the government has decided to end its appeal, and I'm very anxious to hear John Doe's story, I am very disappointed they didn't make that decision until after the USA PATRIOT Act [renewal] passed," Connecticut Library Association president Alice Knapp told LJ.

Knapp pointed out that, thanks to a failure by government lawyers to hide all references to the library at issue, the Times and the Washington Post had already identified the recipient of the National Security Letter as the Library Connection, a Windsor, CT-based consortium. "We have all known who John Doe was since September. And they have only now decided it's okay to tell his story? In essence, they suppressed John Doe's First Amendment right to speak when this would've been relevant." The Patriot Act was renewed in early March, after two extensions .

John Doe was expected to be allowed to speak within a few weeks, after court proceedings concluded. It was unclear whether the library group would be able to discuss the case in detail. Knapp pointed out that libraries now have the capacity, under the revised Patriot Act, to challenge such National Security Letters, but they would have to wait a year, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation would have discretion to dismiss the challenge for national security reasons. U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor told the Times that the decision was based on the change in the Patriot Act.

A federal judge had ruled on September 9 in favor of John Doe, but stayed the decision so the federal government could appeal. John Doe received the 2005 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting January 21 in San Antonio; accepting for the winner was Judith Krug, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. "In Connecticut, we are so very proud of John Doe," Knapp said. "We know there was a lot of sacrifice on John Doe's part. People have not been able to talk about the case with their family, friends, or professional colleagues."