Prosecutors Drop ACLU Subpoena in Document Fight

Judge Rakoff campared the government's subpoena of the ACLU to the Nixon administration's effort to stop the New York Times and the Washington Post from publishing a secret history of the Vietnam War. "There seems to be a huge difference," Judge Rakoff said, "between investigating a wrongful leak of a classified document and demanding back all copies of it, and I'm old enough to remember a case called the Pentagon Papers." Mr. Romero, the ACLU's executive director, said the case would have a lasting impact. "It certainly helps the press and whistle-blowers to resist the strong-arm efforts of the government."

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