Bill Schuette

Attorney General Bill Schuette

(Danielle McGrew | The Bay City Times)

LANSING, MI -- Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Thursday that he has personally apologized to two journalists who were issued subpoenas by a staff attorney demanding that they turn over source materials.

Schuette, in a press call with reporters, said that he called Huffington Post reporter Dana Liebelson and Michigan Radio host Cynthia Canty earlier Thursday.

"A mistake was made. That should not have occurred. It won't happen in the future," said Schuette, who also announced a new departmental policy: His approval will be required for any subpoena involving a journalist.

The attorney general was out of town with his family when news of the subpoenas broke on Monday and said he was not aware of the situation before that time. He directed staff to withdraw the subpoenas later that same day.

"I understand people's work product. I understand people's confidential sources and unpublished notes. I understand the responsibility that journalists (have) in terms of the First Amendment," Schuette said.

Liebelson, a national reporter covering juvenile prison conditions in Michigan, announced on social media that she had been issued two subpoenas last week.

"A rep for Michigan's AG followed me 2 hours across the state to deliver the second subpoena," she wrote on Twitter. "It was intimidating."

Michigan Radio, meanwhile, was issued a subpoena for unedited audio and producer notes from an interview with Ann Arbor attorney Deborah LaBelle.

LaBelle is representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that the state did not do enough to protect juvenile inmates from sexual assault. Her Stateside interview aired on Michigan Radio last week.

Got a call today from @SchuetteOnDuty about subpoena. Acknowledge & accept his personal apology. -- Cynthia Canty (@CyndyCanty) March 12, 2015

John Sellek, director of public affairs for the Attorney General's Office, disputed the suggestion that Liebelson had been followed. Schuette said his office was conducting a thorough review of the situation.

"If she felt intimidated, that's wrong," Schuette said. "If she had that experience, that's wrong. I don't condone that, and if somebody felt that, it's wrong. We're going to correct that for sure."

No one was fired over the subpoenas, according to Schuette, who declined to discuss whether anyone on staff was reprimanded. He noted there are 275 attorneys in the Attorney General's Office and said he does not typically review every subpoena.

"When we do sterling work, which we do most of the time, the credit is a team credit," Schuette said. "But when a mistake occurs, I bear responsibility. I'm throwing nobody under the bus. That's not what I do. This should not have occurred."

Reporters are generally protected from subpoena by Michigan's shield law, which prohibits courts from compelling journalists to disclose the identify of informants or produce unpublished notes.

The subpoenas issued to reporters by the Attorney General's Office prompted national media attention -- Liebelson discussed the experience with The Washington Post -- and outcry from various publications.

"It's hard to imagine a greater insult to the First Amendment than to have the government attempt to intimidate a reporter gathering information that may expose government abuses," The Detroit News wrote in an editorial earlier this week.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.