Jeff Sessions Threatens Reporters: Freedom Of The Press Is 'Not Unlimited'

​At a Department of Justice press conference on Friday, Jeff Sessions announced that the department is "reviewing policies" that would allow the government to subpoena the media. Sessions added: "we respect the important role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited — they cannot place lives at risk with impunity." 

Additionally, Sessions claimed that the number of leak probes has tripled under the Trump administration, and that prosecutors have charged four people with leaking classified information or hiding contacts with foreign officers.

In 1972, The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not exempt a journalist witnessing a crime from being subpoenaed. Certain state courts (such as New York) have ruled, however, that their state constitutions provide journalists with legal privilege — an exemption from the obligation to testify against a source.

Other states have passed "shield laws" that allow journalists to protect confidential sources, but there is no federal version.