Chip Stewart
Small-town newspaper offices in Kansas raided by entire police force after writing about a politician and a restaurant owner they had been reporting about. https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/11/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-marion-county-newspaper-seizing-computers-records-and-cellphones/
Police stage 'chilling' raid on Marion County newspaper, seizing computers, records and cellphones • Kansas Reflector

In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper's reporters, and the publisher's home.

Kansas Reflector
Aug 11, 2023 at 11:18pmtooot
Show threadGlenn FleishmanAug 11, 2023
@MediaLawProf That city is going to pay so much money in damages
Show thread@krisnelsonAug 12, 2023

@glennf @MediaLawProf Ugh, never a good sign that this kind of press attack is happening at all! But yes, this kind of crap is why e.g. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 exists, but those things are just a huge amount of work and don't immediately resolve the problem of publishing this/next week anyway. Often the damage/silencing is already done, even if taxpayers eventually pay out or injunctions issue (& often the real perpetrators get away with it anyway).

Hopefully some "adult in the room" can step in ASAP

Show threadChip StewartAug 12, 2023
@krisnelson @glennf reminds me of Mink v. Knox out of Colorado about a decade ago - but so much worse
Show threadCautionWIP (he/him) 🏳️‍🌈🇨🇦🕎Aug 12, 2023
@krisnelson @glennf @MediaLawProf I wonder how much of their work is done on cloud-based systems. Do you think they have/had physical servers that were grabbed, or can they *just* log on via home/alternate systems?
Show threadTor Iver WilhelmsenAug 12, 2023
@krisnelson @glennf @MediaLawProf Heck, it’s why the press is explicitly named in the 1st Amendment.
Show threadRussell L. WilsonAug 11, 2023
@MediaLawProf They tried “that” in a small town, i.e. holding the good ole boys to account
Show threadKatLSAug 12, 2023
@MediaLawProf ahh this reminds me of my younger days… if you’re a news org and you haven’t been sued for libel or threatened by the power structure are you even doing your job?
Show threadSteve YelvingtonAug 12, 2023
@MediaLawProf Is this the Eric Meyer who used to be at the University of Illinois?
Show threadJames CarlsonAug 12, 2023
@MediaLawProf @steve “Meyer said he had never heard of police raiding a newspaper office during his 20 years at the Milwaukee Journal or 26 years teaching journalism at the University of Illinois.”
Show threadJim GoodallAug 12, 2023
@MediaLawProf Something fishy is going on. I wonder who's at the top of the chain. I hope the newspaper keeps the pressure on now!
Show threadcat static 🇺🇸🇺🇦Aug 12, 2023

@MediaLawProf This is why they hate the Federal government:

https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/public-corruption

Public Corruption

Public corruption is the FBI’s top criminal investigative priority, that includes border corruption, election crimes, international corruption and prison corruption.

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Show threadEdelruth, PBS Passport HolderAug 12, 2023

@MediaLawProf

Did they have a warrant to do that?

If so, who was the judge that signed it, and what was the reason for the seizures given in the warrant?

We are not yet a country where the police can just come in and take your stuff, unless we let them.

Show threadCykonotAug 12, 2023

@Edelruth @MediaLawProf but are we the kind of country where they could be charged? No.
Will the judge be charged? No.

They are empowered to seize assets, detain without cause, and even kill with little to no meaningful recourse. Fighting the abuse is thwarted at every turn by a legal system which would make an example of untold numbers of poor offenders by placing them in labor camps (some for-profit prisons), while demonstrating the impunity of LEOs/judges/oligarchs by blocking real justice.

Show threadFatimaNBunBun Aug 12, 2023
@MediaLawProf I swear it seems some areas have slid backwards in time. It’s terrible to watch