Judge quashes subpoena for Salman Rushdie’s memoir notes, contract

Penguin Random House was subpoenaed on Feb. 8, 2024, for drafts, edits and communications concerning the Salman Rushdie memoir it was planning to publish. The subpoena — filed in connection with a criminal case against a man charged with the 2022 assault of the author during a public lecture Chautauqua, New York — was quashed in July, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

Rushdie was about to begin speaking at a literary festival on Aug. 12, 2022, when a man rushed the stage and stabbed the author multiple times. The man, later identified as Hadi Matar of New Jersey, was subsequently charged with attempted murder and assault, as well as terrorism-related offenses.

In February 2024, Matar’s attorney subpoenaed Penguin Random House, seeking all drafts, writings and communications concerning Rushdie’s planned memoir about the attack, “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” which was published in April.

Rushdie was issued a nearly identical subpoena Feb. 26, according to court records.

After filing an initial objection Feb. 23, attorneys representing Penguin Random House filed a joint motion with counsel for Rushdie to quash the subpoenas. The April 15 motion argued, in part, that they were protected from disclosing the materials by both New York’s reporter shield law and the First Amendment.

The subpoenas include “sprawling requests for editorial material,” according to the motion, and “constitute nothing more than an overbroad fishing expedition” for material to harm Rushdie’s credibility.

“These are all highly personal documents concerning the editorial process that would ordinarily never be made public or even privately shared with third parties,” Rushdie wrote in an affidavit supporting the motion. “To have these unpublished materials—or indeed, any of my private documents—become fodder for the Defendant (or his counsel) to sift through would be an extraordinary invasion of my privacy and sense of security.”

County Court Judge David Foley quashed both subpoenas following a hearing on July 18, according to court filings. In addition to ruling that the subpoenas were “overbroad and unreasonably burdensome,” Foley also affirmed that Rushdie and Penguin Random House, as well as the memoir, are protected under the shield law.

Matar’s trial was scheduled to begin Oct. 15, but was delayed to allow a state appeals court to consider whether to move the case out of Chautauqua County, The New York Times reported. Rushdie is expected to testify when the trial moves forward.