On August 11, 2023 the police chief of the City of Marion, in Marion County, Kansas, asked a magistrate judge to sign off on a warrant which would allow him to search and seize equipment at the offices of the weekly newspaper, the Marion Record, the home of the publisher (and the co-owner, his mother), and the home of a city council member.
Recently a survey asked the question: “Can you share with us how you feel about the police raid on the Marion County Record and how by not prosecuting law enforcement for the raids might affect a local newspaper’s ability to independently and freely report on local community news and events in the future?”
I wish the survey had called me. The police chief is not the only guilty party here. I would ask the magistrate judge to explain the legal precedent that justified signing the warrant.
The Marion County Attorney, Joel Ensey, who withdrew the warrant two days later, also has some questions to answer.
A First Amendment lawyer has said the raids are the "grossest violation of the right of free speech" he has ever seen. I myself was in a state of disbelief when I learned about the raids. If the decisions made by the police chief, the judge, the county attorney, and others involved weren't so ludicrous, they would be laughable.
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