Febuary 27 Hearing on Motion to Compel: Google vs. DOJ

A hearing on the Department of Justice's Motion to Compel Compliance with Subpeona Duces Tecum has been set for Febuary 27 before U.S. District Court Judge James Ware in United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose. The Declaration of Joel McElvain, Trial Attorney for Department of Justice, provides additional background details including the original DOJ letter request and subpoena duces tecum to Google seeking materials relevant to its defense in the ACLU vs. Gonzales matter, responsive letter by Google's counsel and Protective Order entered by the Court in the ACLU vs. Gonzales matter. Also, the Declaration of Philip B. Stark, Ph.D. filed in support of the Motion to Compel Compliance with Subpoena Duces Tecum is interesting to provide a context and background of the reasons the DOJ is seeking the search engine information in connection with the ACLU vs. Gonzales matter.

According to the Yahoo news article, Judge Ware also set a February 6 date for Google to file its response in opposition to the Department of Justice's motion to compel and a February 13 date for the DOJ to file its reply to whatever Google has to say.

Interesting reading for those of us who have filed motions to quash subpoenas or defended motions to compel involving requests for the production of private and confidential information, especially those situations where the subpeonas are issued to non-party participants in the underlying litigation.

Tags: google, DOJ, ACLU, privacy, law