By Thomas Barnard and Macy Climo (August 17, 2018, 1:17 PM EDT) -- When the FBI seized New York Times journalist Ali Watkins' personal phone and email records in early 2018 as part of an investigation into leaks out of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the press was outraged.[1] The seizure was part of a run of U.S. Department of Justice cases investigating leaks that started under President Barack Obama and has tripled under President Donald Trump.[2] While not discussed in most reporting, the authority to seize documents from a reporter has a higher threshold of approval than for normal investigations, and the failure to follow those requirements has a unique statutory remedy for reporters. Seldom used, and relatively unknown to most courts, the Privacy Protection Act of 1980 provides a set of rules of which reporters, news agencies, and private counsel should all be keenly aware....