The Washington Post asked a federal judge in Virginia on Wednesday to order federal law enforcement to return electronic devices seized from a staff reporter's home, arguing in a court filing that the search "flouts the First Amendment and ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists."
Federal agents executed a search warrant on Jan. 14 at the Virginia home of reporter Hannah Natanson, seizing two phones, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive and a Garmin watch.
The government said it searched Natanson's home as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of unlawfully obtaining classified materials.
Searches of reporters' homes are exceptionally rare, and federal regulations meant to protect a free press are designed to make it harder for authorities to use aggressive tactics to obtain journalists' source identities or newsgathering information.
First Amendment advocacy groups have said the search marked the first time the government raided a journalist's home as part of a national security leak investigation.
Wednesday's filing is The Post's first public court response to the seizure.
In the filing, Post attorneys said they held multiple discussions with federal officials about the seized data and that the government agreed it would not "begin a substantive review of the seized data" until the parties met again on Jan. 20.
After that meeting, when officials rejected a proposal to return the materials, Post lawyers said they would seek court intervention.
Post attorneys said federal officials took an increasingly combative approach and refused to commit to pausing review of the materials while litigation proceeds. The lawyers said that in other cases federal officials have voluntarily held off reviewing materials pending a hearing.
Government officials told the Post they were still processing the seized data and had not begun reviewing it, but also said they "would not refrain from conducting a substantive review" and "would not agree to inform us even when it began," according to the filing.
The Post is asking the judge to set an expedited schedule and prohibit the government from reading through Natanson's materials until the case is resolved.
"The outrageous seizure of our reporter's confidential newsgathering materials chills speech, cripples reporting, and inflicts irreparable harm every day the government keeps its hands on these materials," the Post said in a statement.
"We have asked the court to order the immediate return of all seized materials and prevent their use," the statement continued. "Anything less would license future newsroom raids and normalize censorship by search warrant."
The warrant cited an investigation into Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a Maryland system administrator with a top-secret security clearance.
A Justice Department official said the suspect was messaging Natanson when he was arrested earlier this month. Perez-Lugones has been charged with retaining classified materials but has not been accused in court of illegally leaking materials to the media.
The Post's filing said "almost none" of the seized devices were relevant, arguing "the FBI seized Natanson's newsgathering materials" containing years of confidential-source information and unpublished reporting.
"The government seized this proverbial haystack in an attempt to locate a needle," the filing said.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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