The Obama-Backed "Press Shield" Probably Wouldn't Have Helped the AP

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/05/15/obama_shield_law_adminstration_asks_chuck_schumer_to_revive_media_shield.html

The White House, currently taking a pounding from civil libertarians and reporters for the Justice Department's sweeping grab of the Associated Press' phone records, offered something of an olive branch today in the form of its support of a so-called press shield bill, one that would provide some cover for journalists who don't want to reveal their confidential sources to federal officials. The bill was introduced by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer back in 2009 and subsequently passed out of committee, but ultimately withered in the full Senate, as things tend to do.

Obama is now asking Schumer to revive his bill, an announcement clearly timed to combat some of the criticism currently coming the president's way. Given that, it's important to note that it's unclear—and perhaps unlikely—that the specific legislation in question would have prevented the DoJ from seizing the AP's phone records. The more likely scenario appears to be that the department would have simply needed to jump through an extra judicial hoop or two to secure a national-security exception, possibly without ever informing the AP beforehand.