SECTION 215’S AUTOMATIC GAG RULE VIOLATES THE FIRST AMENDMENT. The constitutional defects in Section 215 identified above are further compounded by an automatic statutory “gag rule,” 50 U.S.C. § 1861(d), that prohibits anyone from disclosing that a order has issued. The gag rule provides: No person shall disclose to any other person (other than those persons necessary to produce the tangible things under this section) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained tangible things under this section. Id. The provision is little more than a blunt law enforcement tool that recklessly infringes on First Amendment rights.
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