II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2457 

To maintain the free flow of information to the public by establishing appropriate limits on the federally compelled disclosure of information obtained 

as part of engaging in journalism, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2021 

Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To maintain the free flow of information to the public by 

establishing appropriate limits on the federally compelled 

disclosure of information obtained as part of engaging 

in journalism, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Reporters from 

5 Excessive State Suppression Act’’ or the ‘‘PRESS Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) COVERED JOURNALIST.—The term ‘‘covered 

2 journalist’’ means a person who gathers, prepares, 

3 collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, 

4 or publishes news or information that concerns local, 

5 national, or international events or other matters of 

6 public interest for dissemination to the public. 

7 (2) COVERED SERVICE PROVIDER.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered 

9 service provider’’ means any person that, by an 

10 electronic means, stores, processes, or transmits 

11 information in order to provide a service to cus12 tomers of the person. 

13 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘covered 

14 service provider’’ includes— 

15 (i) a telecommunications carrier and a 

16 provider of an information service (as such 

17 terms are defined in section 3 of the Com18 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153)); 

19 (ii) a provider of an interactive com20 puter service and an information content 

21 provider (as such terms are defined in sec22 tion 230 of the Communications Act of 

23 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230)); 


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1 (iii) a provider of remote computing 

2 service (as defined in section 2711 of title 

3 18, United States Code); and 

4 (iv) a provider of electronic commu5 nication service (as defined in section 2510 

6 of title 18, United States Code) to the 

7 public. 

8 (3) DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘document’’ means 

9 writings, recordings, and photographs, as those 

10 terms are defined by Federal Rule of Evidence 1001 

11 (28 U.S.C. App.). 

12 (4) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal en13 tity’’ means an entity or employee of the judicial or 

14 executive branch or an administrative agency of the 

15 Federal Government with the power to issue a sub16 poena or issue other compulsory process. 

17 (5) JOURNALISM.—The term ‘‘journalism’’ 

18 means gathering, preparing, collecting, 

19 photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, 

20 or publishing news or information that concerns 

21 local, national, or international events or other mat22 ters of public interest for dissemination to the pub23 lic. 

24 (6) PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF A COVERED JOUR25 NALIST.—The term ‘‘personal account of a covered 


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1 journalist’’ means an account with a covered service 

2 provider used by a covered journalist that is not pro3 vided, administered, or operated by the employer of 

4 the covered journalist. 

5 (7) PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY DEVICE OF A COV6 ERED JOURNALIST.—The term ‘‘personal technology 

7 device of a covered journalist’’ means a handheld 

8 communications device, laptop computer, desktop 

9 computer, or other internet-connected device used by 

10 a covered journalist that is not provided or adminis11 tered by the employer of the covered journalist. 

12 (8) PROTECTED INFORMATION.—The term 

13 ‘‘protected information’’ means any information 

14 identifying a source who provided information as 

15 part of engaging in journalism, and any records, 

16 contents of a communication, documents, or infor17 mation that a covered journalist obtained or created 

18 as part of engaging in journalism. 

19 SEC. 3. LIMITS ON COMPELLED DISCLOSURE FROM COV20 ERED JOURNALISTS. 

21 In any matter arising under Federal law, a Federal 

22 entity may not compel a covered journalist to disclose pro23 tected information, unless a court in the judicial district 

24 in which the subpoena or other compulsory process is, or 

25 will be, issued determines by a preponderance of the eviVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Jul 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2457.IS S2457

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1 dence, after providing notice and an opportunity to be 

2 heard to the covered journalist that— 

3 (1) disclosure of the protected information is 

4 necessary to prevent, or to identify any perpetrator 

5 of, an act of terrorism against the United States; or 

6 (2) disclosure of the protected information is 

7 necessary to prevent a threat of imminent violence, 

8 significant bodily harm, or death. 

9 SEC. 4. LIMITS ON COMPELLED DISCLOSURE FROM COV10 ERED SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

11 (a) CONDITIONS FOR COMPELLED DISCLOSURE.—In 

12 any matter arising under Federal law, a Federal entity 

13 may not compel a covered service provider to provide testi14 mony or any document consisting of any record, informa15 tion, or other communication that relates to a business 

16 transaction between the covered service provider and a 

17 covered journalist, including testimony or any document 

18 relating to a personal account of a covered journalist or 

19 a personal technology device of a covered journalist, unless 

20 a court in the judicial district in which the subpoena or 

21 other compulsory process is, or will be, issued determines 

22 by a preponderance of the evidence that there is a reason23 able threat of imminent violence unless the testimony or 

24 document is provided, and issues an order authorizing the 


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1 Federal entity to compel the disclosure of the testimony 

2 or document. 

3 (b) NOTICE TO COURT.—A Federal entity seeking to 

4 compel the provision of testimony or any document de5 scribed in subsection (a) shall inform the court that the 

6 testimony or document relates to a covered journalist. 

7 (c) NOTICE TO COVERED JOURNALIST AND OPPOR8 TUNITY TO BE HEARD.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—A court may authorize a 

10 Federal entity to compel the provision of testimony 

11 or a document under this section only after the Fed12 eral entity seeking the testimony or document pro13 vides the covered journalist who is a party to the 

14 business transaction described in subsection (a)— 

15 (A) notice of the subpoena or other com16 pulsory request for such testimony or document 

17 from the covered service provider not later than 

18 the time at which such subpoena or request is 

19 issued to the covered service provider; and 

20 (B) an opportunity to be heard before the 

21 court before the time at which the provision of 

22 the testimony or document is compelled. 

23 (2) EXCEPTION TO NOTICE REQUIREMENT.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notice and an oppor25 tunity to be heard under paragraph (1) may be 


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1 delayed for not more than 45 days if the court 

2 involved determines there is clear and con3 vincing evidence that such notice would pose a 

4 clear and substantial threat to the integrity of 

5 a criminal investigation, or would present an 

6 imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm. 

7 (B) EXTENSIONS.—The 45-day period de8 scribed in subparagraph (A) may be extended 

9 by the court for additional periods of not more 

10 than 45 days if the court involved makes a new 

11 and independent determination that there is 

12 clear and convincing evidence that providing no13 tice to the covered journalist would pose a clear 

14 and substantial threat to the integrity of a 

15 criminal investigation, or would present an im16 minent risk of death or serious bodily harm 

17 under current circumstances. 

18 SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON CONTENT OF INFORMATION. 

19 The content of any testimony, document, or protected 

20 information that is compelled under sections 3 or 4 shall— 

21 (1) not be overbroad, unreasonable, or oppres22 sive, and as appropriate, be limited to the purpose 

23 of verifying published information or describing any 

24 surrounding circumstances relevant to the accuracy 

25 of such published information; and 


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1 (2) be narrowly tailored in subject matter and 

2 period of time covered so as to avoid compelling the 

3 production of peripheral, nonessential, or speculative 

4 information. 

5 SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

6 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to— 

7 (1) apply to civil defamation, slander, or libel 

8 claims or defenses under State law, regardless of 

9 whether or not such claims or defenses, respectively, 

10 are raised in a State or Federal court; or 

11 (2) prevent the Federal Government from pur12 suing an investigation of a covered journalist or or13 ganization that is— 

14 (A) suspected of committing a crime; 

15 (B) a witness to a crime unrelated to en16 gaging in journalism; 

17 (C) suspected of being an agent of a for18 eign power, as defined in section 101 of the 

19 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 

20 (50 U.S.C. 1801); 

21 (D) an individual or organization des22 ignated under Executive Order 13224 (50 

23 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking property 

24 and prohibiting transactions with persons who 


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1 commit, threaten to commit, or support ter2 rorism); 

3 (E) a specially designated terrorist, as that 

4 term is defined in section 595.311 of title 31, 

5 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor 

6 thereto); or 

7 (F) a terrorist organization, as that term 

8 is defined in section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(II) of the 

9 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

10 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi)(II)). 

Æ 


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