Laws! What Are They Good For?

War, Law huh, yeah

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing

Say it again, y’all

War Law, huh (good God)

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing, listen to me

“War” by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong

You see, the Department of Justice lied by omission. They didn’t think it was relevant to tell a judge that the warrant was for a reporter… and the judge is really, really pissed at them.

Judge who allowed FBI to search Washington Post reporter’s home rips into Justice Department

Devan Cole, CNN

Fri, February 20, 2026

A federal judge ripped into the Justice Department on Friday for failing to inform him of the applicability of a law intended to protect journalists from government searches and seizures when it asked him for permission to raid a Washington Post reporter’s home earlier this year.

“How could you miss it? How could you think it doesn’t apply?” Magistrate Judge William Porter asked a DOJ lawyer during a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia.

“I find it hard to believe that in any way this law did not apply,” Porter added later.

The judge said during the hearing that he had declined to approve the warrant for materials from reporter Hannah Natanson several other times.

Justice Department attorney Christian Dibblee argued that the decision was made by department officials several rungs above him, but that he understood the judge’s “frustration.”

Porter shot back: “That’s minimizing it!”

“Ms. Natanson has been deprived of basically her life’s work,” Porter said during the hearing, echoing comments from her lawyer that she’s been unable to continue reporting and gathering confidential sources following the raid.

They knew what they were doing by withholding the information. They had been shot down with other warrants for reporters, so this time they decided to withhold the information!

Dibblee and DOJ attorney Gordon Kromberg tried to tell Porter on Friday that the department didn’t believe the law was applicable in this case, with Dibblee at one point saying it’s not the kind of “adverse authority” that lawyers are typically required to raise with a court when making requests for such warrants.

“You don’t think you have an obligation to say that?” Porter said at one point. “I’m a little frustrated with how the process went down.”

They are either lying to the judge or they flunked out of law school. So the government lawyers didn't think a law prohibiting searching of a reporter computer didn't fall under the law prohibiting the exact same thing?

Fox 59 reported that,

Porter said he intends to issue a decision before a follow-up hearing scheduled for March 4.

“I have a pretty good sense of what I’m going to do here,” the magistrate said without elaborating.

Pentagon contractor Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones was arrested on Jan. 8 and charged with unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents. Perez-Lugones is accused of taking home printouts of classified documents from his workplace and later passing them to Natanson.

[...]

Post attorney Simon Latcovich said the information contained on Natanson’s devices could expose hundreds of confidential sources who routinely provided her with dozens, if not hundreds, of tips every day.

“Since the seizure, those sources have dried up,” he said.

Trump’s Department of Justice got what they wanted… fear. Oh, they knew what they were doing when they ignored the laws. Exactly. They created fear in potential whistleblowers. They created fear in reporters. Oh yes, Trump & Company got what they wanted!

The newspaper’s attorneys accused authorities of violating legal safeguards for journalists and trampling on Natanson’s First Amendment free speech rights.

Justice Department attorneys argued that the government is entitled to keep the seized material because it contains evidence in an ongoing investigation with national security implications.

The case has drawn national attention and scrutiny from press freedom advocates who say it reflects a more aggressive posture by the Justice Department toward leak investigations involving journalists.

“There is a pattern here, your honor, that this is a part of,” Latcovich said.

Yup. In Minneapolis, saying that the First and Second Amendments do not apply to protesters. Taking U.S. citizens off the streets without cause. Busting into homes without warrants. Ignoring court orders. And now lying to a judge. There is a pattern here… of ignoring the Constitution and the laws when they don’t suit them.