Federal Judge Blocks Government’s Bid to Search Washington Post Reporter’s Devices

A federal judge on Feb. 24 denied a government request to search a Washington Post reporter’s electronic devices seized during a January raid in connection with its investigation into a national security leak.

The order came after the federal authorities executed a search warrant at the residence of Washington Post journalist Hannah Natanson on Jan. 14. Authorities said the search warrant was part of an investigation into a national security leak.

Natanson, who covered President Donald Trump’s effort to downsize the federal workforce, has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing. The search of her devices stemmed from her communications with Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a government contractor charged last month with transmitting national defense information.

Two laptops, a mobile phone, a portable hard drive, a recording device, and an exercise watch were seized during the raid, according to court documents.

Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers said the department planned to have a group of FBI agents not involved in the investigation, known as a filter team, review the seized material and separate anything not relevant to the probe.

In a 22-page order, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter in Virginia said that allowing the government to search the reporter’s work materials beyond the limited scope of probable cause would amount to authorizing “an unlawful general warrant.”

“Given the documented reporting on government leak investigations and the government’s well-chronicled efforts to stop them, allowing the government’s filter team to search a reporter’s work product—most of which consists of unrelated information from confidential sources—is the equivalent of leaving the government’s fox in charge of the Washington Post’s henhouse,” Porter said.

“Accordingly, the court rejects the government’s request to conduct an unsupervised, wholesale search of all movants’ seized data using a government filter team.”

Porter said he could not order the government to return all seized devices and allow the reporter “to unilaterally identify material responsive to the search warrant.”

He noted that a proper search process must be conducted to protect classified information before any materials are returned.

The court will conduct its own review of Natanson’s devices to gather the information sought by the government and ensure her First Amendment rights and attorney-client privileges are protected, the judge added.

He said the reporter’s First Amendment rights “have been restrained” because the government seized all of her “work product, documentary material, and devices, terminating her access to the confidential sources she developed and to all the tools she needs as a working journalist.”

“No easy remedy exists here,” the judge said. “The government’s proposed remedy—that she simply buy a new phone and laptop, set up new accounts, and start from scratch—is unjust and unreasonable.”

Porter said the court recognizes that the case involves classified national security information and hoped the search was not aimed at collecting information “about confidential sources from a reporter who has published articles critical of the administration.”

In a statement posted to X, The Washington Post said it welcomes “the court’s recognition of core First Amendment protections and its rejection of the government’s expansionist arguments for searching Hannah Natanson’s devices and work materials in their entirety and placing itself in charge of determining their relevance.”

The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Reuters contributed to this report.