Wednesday, February 25, 2026-A federal judge in Virginia has blocked the U.S. Department of Justice from conducting its own search of electronic devices seized from a Washington Post reporter, ruling instead that the court itself will review the contents to determine relevance in an ongoing leak investigation.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter’s order comes as part of a probe tied to allegations that a Pentagon contractor leaked classified information, leading to an unprecedented FBI raid on the reporter’s home in January. The judge emphasized the need to balance First Amendment protections for journalists with the government’s interest in national security enforcement.
Porter’s ruling specifically bars an “unsupervised, wholesale search” by Justice Department filter teams—teams of DOJ lawyers who would normally screen seized materials for relevance—because of the potential infringement on confidential sources and journalistic work products.
He noted that allowing government lawyers to comb through the reporter’s devices could chill press freedoms and undermine trust between journalists and their sources, since the seized phones, laptops, portable hard drives, and other gear contain years of reporting materials and communications.
While the judge denied an immediate request to return the devices outright, he ordered that everything not directly related to the investigation be returned to the journalist. The case has drawn widespread attention from press freedom advocates who see it as a critical test of how aggressively the government may pursue leak investigations involving reporters without eroding constitutional protections. The decision underscores persistent tensions between national security priorities and protecting independent journalism in the digital age.
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