A magistrate judge has barred federal authorities from conducting an unsupervised, wholesale search of electronic devices that they seized from a Washington Post reporter’s Virginia home while investigating allegations that a Pentagon contractor illegally leaked classified information to the journalist.

A judge is weighing the Washington Post's demand for federal authorities to return electronic devices seized from a Post reporter’s Virginia home last month.

Federal prosecutors say a Pentagon contractor has been indicted on charges that he illegally handled classified national defense information that he took home from work and later gave to a news reporter.

The Washington Post has asked a federal court for an order requiring federal authorities to return electronic devices that they seized from a Post reporter’s Virginia home last week.