Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Federal authorities are barred from conducting an ‘unsupervised, wholesale search’ of electronic devices that they seized from a Washington Post reporter’s Virginia home while investigating allegations that a Pentagon contractor illegally leaked classified information to the journalist, a magistrate judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter said he will independently review the contents of Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s devices instead of allowing a Justice Department ‘filter team’ to perform a search. He denied the newspaper’s request for an order requiring the government to immediately return the devices to its reporter. Judge Porter said he balanced the need to protect Ms. Natanson’s free speech rights with the government’s duty to safeguard top secret national security information.” (02/24/26)