zlacker

You cut off the first and most important caveat. Police can search and size if they think the journalist committed a crime, just not for 3rd party investigations.

>this provision shall not impair or affect the ability of any government officer or employee, pursuant to otherwise applicable law, to search for or seize such materials, if— (1)there is probable cause to believe that the person possessing such materials has committed or is committing the criminal offense to which the materials relate

This is obviously relevant as the police allege the journalist committed a crime, specifically identify theft.

>>s1arti+(OP)
Yea I believe that’s the case here upon reading the statute closer. However given the newspaper had publicly said the documents were received from a source I am surprised a judge allowed a warrant. I am curious what evidence was presented and how it could have been more compelling than the public disclosure of a source.

>>fnordp+i2
Evidence could be extremely obvious, for example an IP addresses logging into a victim's account. It happens all the time.

Or it could be a trumped up accusation and an unconstitutional warrant.

We simply don't have the information. An honest an intelligent article would have articulated this question as the Crux of the matter, opposed to obfuscating it and claiming the warrant was unconstitutional.

I'm personally very opposed to a police corruption and overreach, but also hate skewed articles that mislead. Real reform needs to come from a place of accuracy opposed to hype and misinformation.

>>s1arti+(OP)
"to which the materials relate" still is a problem if you seize everything that a newspaper has in response to one bit of reporting that you think might have violated a law.

This makes it hard for me to see this as anything other than a retaliatory overreach, especially given the context of the paper's track record of critical reporting on local government and law enforcement.

It's also worth noting that the article mentions a lawful source for the information in question (a tip from Newell's husband).