"The judge granted a temporary restraining order halting the DOJ from searching or relying on evidence Richman's lawyers argued was illegally seized and retained. She wrote in her order that Richman was "likely to succeed" in showing "the Government has violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures by retaining a complete copy of all files on his personal computer" and searching those files without a warrant."
"Kollar-Kotelly noted the government has not said who has custody of the materials, so "uncertainty about its whereabouts weighs in favor of acting promptly to preserve the status quo." Her order, which is set to remain in place until Friday, also required the government to certify by Monday that it is complying. The DOJ did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment."
"Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick questioned whether the government had overstepped by "rummag[ing]" through evidence from prior searches and materials that could have been privileged to shape the since-dismissed indictment. He described "a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.""
Senior U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a temporary restraining order preventing the DOJ from accessing or using data taken from Daniel Richman. The order found Richman likely to succeed in showing that the government violated his Fourth Amendment right by retaining a complete copy of files from his personal computer and searching them without a warrant. The judge emphasized that uncertainty about who holds the materials supports preserving the status quo. The order remains in place until Friday and requires the DOJ to certify compliance by Monday. A separate magistrate judge previously criticized reliance on older seized materials and identified investigative missteps.
Read at Axios
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