Judge Orders US to Detail Max Blumenthal Phone Seizure Within 14 Days
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 1
Judge Orders US to Detail Max Blumenthal Phone Seizure Within 14 Days
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 1
Summary
A federal judge ordered the US government to show who handled Max Blumenthal’s two seized phones, when they had them and what they did with them after returning the devices.
The order followed Blumenthal’s challenge to a 10 July Dulles airport seizure after agents sought access to the phones without a warrant and later said they could not get into them.
Judge Leonie Brinkema said recent Fourth Circuit law suggests an advanced cellphone search would require a warrant, and none was produced in Blumenthal’s case.
Only the phones—not Blumenthal’s laptop or cameras—were taken, a point his lawyers say suggests interest in contacts, sources, communications or tracking data.
The case adds to mounting scrutiny of Trump administration moves affecting journalists, including a failed bid to subpoena New York Times reporters and another recent airport phone-seizure fight.