Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inboxUS Magistrate Judge William Porter in Virginia said in his ruling that a court-supervised review of the journalist’s devices was appropriate. WASHINGTON – A US judge on Feb 24 blocked federal prosecutors from searching devices seized from a Washington Post reporter as part of a leak investigation, saying he would review their contents for potential evidence. US Magistrate Judge William Porter in Virginia said in his ruling that a court-supervised review of Ms Natanson’s devices was appropriate to balance US legal protections for journalists with the government’s right to seek evidence in criminal investigations implicating national security. “Accordingly, the court rejects the government’s request to conduct an unsupervised, wholesale search of all... seized data,” Judge Porter said. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers had argued the search was a necessary part of an investigation into the unlawful disclosure of US government secrets.

Source: Washington Post February 25, 2026 20:45 UTC