A federal judge today ordered the US government to stop searching devices seized from the house of a Washington Post reporter. It may be only a temporary reprieve for the Post and reporter Hannah Natanson, however. Further proceedings will be held on whether the search can resume or whether the government must return the devices.
Natanson herself isn’t the subject of investigation, but the FBI executed a search warrant at her home and seized her work and personal devices last week as part of an investigation into alleged leaks by a Pentagon contractor. The Post filed a motion to force the return of the reporter’s property, and a separate motion for a standstill order that would prevent review of the seized devices until the court rules on whether they must be returned.
“Almost none of the seized data is even potentially responsive to the warrant, which seeks only records received from or relating to a single government contractor,” a Post court filing today said. “The seized data is core First Amendment-protected material, and some is protected by the attorney-client privilege.”
The materials “should be returned because the search and seizure of Natanson’s reporting materials was an unconstitutional prior restraint—government action that blocks expressive activity before it can occur,” the filing said, adding that the “government’s legitimate interests can be satisfied by issuing a subpoena to Natanson and/or The Post for the same items sought by the warrant.” The multi-device seizure has “suppressed The Post and Natanson’s ability to publish stories on completely unrelated topics,” the filing said.
US Magistrate Judge William Porter today granted the motion for a standstill order. “The government must preserve but must not review any of the materials that law enforcement seized pursuant to search warrants the Court issued… until the Court authorizes review of the materials by further order,” the ruling said.