DonGlock26
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"Judge blocks prosecutors’ access to James Comey’s lawyer’s emails and data
Court says government’s retention and use of law professor Daniel Richman’s data appears to have been illegal.
A federal judge dealt a setback Saturday to the Justice Department’s effort to re-indict former FBI Director James Comey, blocking prosecutors’ access to key evidence from email accounts and a computer belonging to close Comey friend and attorney Daniel Richman.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted a temporary restraining order sought by Richman’s lawyers, requiring that the evidence be sequestered pending a ruling on Richman’s claim that the government illegally retained his emails and other data.
“The Court concludes that Petitioner Richman is likely to succeed on the merits of his claim that 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 (an ‘image’ of the computer) and searching that image without a warrant,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a four-page order filed Saturday, one day after Richman’s attorneys requested the emergency order.
Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee based in Washington, issued the restraining order before getting a formal response from prosecutors to a petition Richman filed last week seeking return of his data. However, she said a lack of clear indication about who currently has the data and where it is stored supported her conclusion that a temporary order limiting access to the trove of records was warranted.
A copy of the law professor’s personal computer, iCloud account and Columbia University email accounts were obtained by the Justice Department in 2017, following Trump’s firing of Comey as FBI director. Richman allowed investigators to make an image of his computer during an investigation into an alleged disclosure of classified information. The FBI later obtained other records through search warrants."
More resistance from the federal bench. He gave the evidence to the FBI in 2017. Now a judge wants to block its use.
Court says government’s retention and use of law professor Daniel Richman’s data appears to have been illegal.
A federal judge dealt a setback Saturday to the Justice Department’s effort to re-indict former FBI Director James Comey, blocking prosecutors’ access to key evidence from email accounts and a computer belonging to close Comey friend and attorney Daniel Richman.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted a temporary restraining order sought by Richman’s lawyers, requiring that the evidence be sequestered pending a ruling on Richman’s claim that the government illegally retained his emails and other data.
“The Court concludes that Petitioner Richman is likely to succeed on the merits of his claim that 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 (an ‘image’ of the computer) and searching that image without a warrant,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a four-page order filed Saturday, one day after Richman’s attorneys requested the emergency order.
Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee based in Washington, issued the restraining order before getting a formal response from prosecutors to a petition Richman filed last week seeking return of his data. However, she said a lack of clear indication about who currently has the data and where it is stored supported her conclusion that a temporary order limiting access to the trove of records was warranted.
A copy of the law professor’s personal computer, iCloud account and Columbia University email accounts were obtained by the Justice Department in 2017, following Trump’s firing of Comey as FBI director. Richman allowed investigators to make an image of his computer during an investigation into an alleged disclosure of classified information. The FBI later obtained other records through search warrants."
More resistance from the federal bench. He gave the evidence to the FBI in 2017. Now a judge wants to block its use.
