Apple wins discovery fight over federal agency documents in DOJ case

A specially appointed judge has sided with Apple in its fight to obtain documents from 14 federal agencies as part of its defense against the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit. Here are the details.

A bit of background

Last May, Apple asked the court overseeing the antitrust case the DOJ brought against the company in 2024 to force the following 14 federal agencies to turn over documents related to how they evaluate, purchase, and use smartphones and wearables:

Apple argued in its request that those records could help support its defense against claims that its iPhone policies are anticompetitive.

In a nutshell, Apple argues that if federal agencies choose its products for their security, privacy, or other features, this could support its claim that the challenged practices are legitimate product advantages rather than anticompetitive restrictions.

The government, however, shot back at Apple’s request, arguing that the agencies are not involved in the case, do not regulate smartphones, and do not purchase or use them in the same way as ordinary consumers.

It asked the court to block the subpoenas, calling them irrelevant and overly burdensome and arguing that they could sweep in privileged, classified, or national-security-sensitive information.

The court then referred the dispute to retired federal judge Jose Linares, who is serving as a special discovery master, to decide whether Apple could enforce the subpoenas.

In complex cases involving extensive discovery, courts sometimes appoint a special master to resolve narrower disputes and ease the workload of the judge overseeing the broader case. Special masters can be retired judges, practicing attorneys, or other experts with relevant experience.

Apple gets the go-ahead to pursue federal agency documents

Judge Linares has now sided with Apple, finding that all of its document requests are relevant to the core allegations in the case. Additionally, he said that the government failed to substantiate its broader objections.

From his decision:

Even though the special discovery master sided with Apple, this doesn’t mean the company will immediately receive every document it requested.

Instead, the agencies can still withhold specific records they believe are privileged or otherwise protected, but they must identify them on a privilege log. Any disagreements over those claims could trigger a new round of discovery disputes, including a possible private review by Judge Linares.

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