A federal judge has turned down the Justice Department’s request to search the devices taken from a Washington Post reporter as part of an FBI investigation into leaked classified information.
In a 22-page decision released Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter from the Eastern District of Virginia criticized how the government handled the case.
He changed his mind on some parts after initially allowing the seizure of the reporter’s devices.
Earlier, Porter had approved a warrant that led federal agents to take two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive, and a Garmin watch from reporter Hannah Natanson during a pre-dawn raid at her Virginia home.
In his ruling, Porter said the government couldn’t be trusted to check the devices on its own.
He denied the Justice Department’s request to let a government team search the devices for materials connected to the investigation into Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones, a government contractor with top security clearance who was charged last month with illegally keeping classified documents.
Instead, the judge ordered that the court itself would look at the devices and mark any information relevant to the FBI’s investigation.
This ruling is a setback for Attorney General Pam Bondi and her department as they investigate the contractor, whom President Donald Trump called a “leaker” who shared classified information about Venezuela with the Washington Post reporter.
According to federal prosecutors, Perez-Lugones and Natanson had messages before his arrest.
Natanson wrote about the ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a story on January 9 that cited government documents. Natanson isn’t accused of any wrongdoing.
In his decision, Porter wrote, “Allowing the government’s filter team to search a reporter’s work product — most of which comes from confidential sources — is like letting the government’s fox look after the Washington Post’s henhouse.”
He added, “The concern that a filter team might make mistakes by neglect, by bad intent, or by simply disagreeing is greater when its interests are so directly against the values of press freedom.”
The Washington Post said in a statement, “We support the court’s recognition of important First Amendment protections.”
Earlier, Porter had also stopped prosecutors from looking at the items taken during the raid, which was a big blow to Bondi and the Justice Department.
He had ordered on January 21, “The government must keep the materials but must not review them until the court gives permission for further review.”
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