Federal judge prevents DOJ from reviewing material seized from Washington Post reporter

A federal judge temporarily barred the Department of Justice (DOJ) from reviewing materials seized from Hannah Natanson, a Washington Post reporter, during a raid on her home. The ruling was issued by Magistrate William B. Porter, who granted the newspaper a "stay order" pending resolution of the case and scheduled oral arguments for February 6.

The raid in question took place last January 14, when FBI agents carried out a search warrant at Natanson's home in Virginia. They seized two laptop computers, one of them owned by The Post, as well as a company iPhone, a portable hard drive, a Garmin watch and a voice recorder.

According to the DOJ, the search was related to the investigation of a Pentagon contractor, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, accused of illegally withholding classified national defense documents.

Porter's ruling came hours after the newspaper demanded that federal authorities return the material. According to the statement from the aforementioned media outlet's lawyers, the search "violates the First Amendment and ignores federal legal safeguards for journalists."

According to the judge, DOJ officials will not be able to examine the devices seized from Natanson's home, until the litigation arising from the search is resolved: "The government must preserve but must not review any of the materials that law enforcement seized… until the Court authorizes review of the materials by further order."

The Washington Post sharply criticized the raid carried out by the Trump Administration through a statement, "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."

"We have asked the court to order the immediate return of all seized materials and prevent their use. Anything less would license future newsroom raids and normalize censorship by search warrant," they added.