The Department of Justice has overhauled its U.S. Attorney’s manual to exclude language about press freedom and racial gerrymandering, according to a report.
The “Need for Free Press and Public Trial” section has been removed in the latest edition of the manual, which was last updated in 1997, per BuzzFeed.
The publication now also directs prosecutors not to share classified information with journalists and instructs them to report any contact with members of the media, in line with President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ crackdown on illegal leaks.
Additionally, the new iteration of the manual, the review of which was ordered by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, refers to the Voting Rights Act’s protection against race-based discrimination at the polls.
But the text, which provides a framework for lawyers to prosecute federal law violations, no longer specifically mentions racial gerrymandering.
Some changes to the manual were not substantive and others were publicly announced, including a part titled “Respect for Religious Liberty,” according to BuzzFeed.
Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior told the news outlet the guidance was not designed as “an exhaustive list of constitutional rights, statutory law, regulatory law, or generalized principles of our legal system.”
“The purpose of that review is to identify redundant sections and language, areas that required greater clarity, and any content that needed to be added to help Department attorneys perform core prosecutorial functions,” Prior said of the revisions.
