Justice Department Withdraws Subpoenas for New York Times Reporters After Judge's Rebuke

On July 23, 2026, the Justice Department told a federal court it would withdraw subpoenas issued to three New York Times journalists that sought to compel them to identify confidential sources. According to The New York Times and ABC News, the department withdrew the subpoenas after U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian signaled he would quash them. A prosecutor from the Southern District of New York acknowledged the government had skipped required investigative steps before serving the subpoenas, calling it "an error ... which we own." The subpoenas, issued July 10, stemmed from Times reporting on the president's travel arrangements involving a Qatari-gifted aircraft.

The episode bears on press-freedom protections and the limits of using investigative tools against reporters. Longstanding Justice Department guidelines treat subpoenas to journalists as a last resort, and the judge reportedly told the government that "subpoenas are the last step, not the first step." The reversal followed the president's order for the FBI to investigate the journalists and FBI Director Kash Patel's effort to obtain their phone and text records.

The department said it withdrew the subpoenas because the judge "threatened our attorneys with sanctions," and said its underlying leak investigation "remains ongoing." No indictments in the matter have been reported. It is a further stage of the source-records dispute previously logged in this ledger.