Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The Washington Times is planning to sue the federal government after armed Homeland Security agents raided the home of a reporter and seized her notes, the newspaper reports.
Reporter Audrey Hudson is an award-winning reporter who has exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department’s Federal Air Marshals Service.
She said agents seized her private notes and records that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Included in the notes are identities of her sources, the Times reported.
The Times plans to file a lawsuit, saying the federal government violated Hudson’s constitutional rights.
“While we appreciate law enforcement’s right to investigate legitimate concerns, there is no reason for agents to use an unrelated gun case to seize the First Amendment protected materials of a reporter,” Times Editor John Solomon said. “This violates the very premise of a free press, and it raises additional concerns when one of the seizing agencies was a frequent target of the reporter’s work.
