Judge Rejects Search Warrant in Unusual Legal Battle

In a surprising turn of events, Mr. Bove has insisted that prosecutors appeal a ruling to a district court judge, according to sources familiar with the situation. Judge John G. Koeltl of Federal District Court of the Southern District of New York has instructed Chief Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn to reconsider the application after careful consideration.

However, on the second attempt, government lawyers faced even more setbacks. Judge Netburn not only denied the search warrant request but also imposed a special condition on the government. If prosecutors were to refile the application with another federal judge, they must include a transcript of the sealed discussions from her court, sources revealed.

The skepticism from the judge was partly due to the absence of lawyers from the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office in the case. Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York were hesitant to be involved in the effort and had limited participation, sources added. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment on the matter.

During the investigation requested by Mr. Bove, civil rights prosecutors raised objections to certain actions he wanted to take. They argued that some steps were not supported by the facts or were against the law and established practices.

At one point, Mr. Bove instructed F.B.I. agents to don raid jackets, go to Columbia’s campus, and stand near protesters in a show of force. This directive was deemed inappropriate and an attempt to intimidate students by the civil rights division. However, the F.B.I. agents did not follow through with the display.

By early April, the investigation appeared to have stalled, but there is a possibility of it being revived in the future. Nevertheless, sources familiar with the case noted that it had worsened the tensions and distrust between political appointees at the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington and the prosecutor’s office in New York, as well as between those appointees and veterans of the civil rights division.