US court hears case involving impersonation of AP journalist
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court heard arguments Monday in a case that developed after an FBI agent pretended to be an Associated Press journalist as part of an investigation into bomb threats at a high school in Washington state.
When the ruse became public in 2014, the AP and a press freedom organization attempted to get government records about the case and any other times FBI agents have impersonated journalists. The lawsuit the appeals court heard Monday was related to whether the FBI looked hard enough for records requested by the organizations.
A lower court ruled in favour of the government, saying the FBI had “conducted a good faith, reasonable search.” The organizations appealed.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing argument in the case Monday, however, had tough questions for the lawyer representing the government. The judges wanted to know how the organizations bringing the case, the AP and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, could be expected to challenge the adequacy of the FBI’s search if they weren’t provided with the search terms the FBI used to carry out the request in various parts of the organization.