(a) If a Magistrate Judge with authority grants an application for a search warrant, he or she
shall sign the warrant. The Magistrate Judge's courtroom deputy or other deputy clerk
shall retain a copy of the warrant, and the original signed warrant shall be maintained by
the officer or attorney seeking the warrant for execution The courtroom deputy shall then
assign a Magistrate Judge docket number to the matter and file the copy of the signed
search warrant and the original application in CM/ECF. The caption shall be "In the
Matter of the Search of" followed by the location to be searched. The copy of the signed
search warrant and the original application shall be filed under seal.
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(b) Once the search warrant is executed, it shall be returned, along with the inventory, to the
Magistrate Judge designated on the warrant within fourteen (14) days after the warrant is
executed or the time period for execution has expired. The officer returning the warrant
may do so by reliable electronic means. The Magistrate Judge's courtroom deputy or other
deputy clerk shall then file the return in CM/ECF and close the matter.
(c) Should the original warrant and an inventory not be timely returned, then the entire
matter, including the application and search warrant, shall be unsealed twenty-eight (28)
days from the issuance of the warrant.
(d) The matter shall be unsealed at the time of the filing of the return or after the passage of
twenty-eight (28) days from the issuance of the warrant, whichever is earlier, unless at the
time of the original application or sometime thereafter, the government requests and the
Magistrate Judge orders that the matter remain sealed for some specific period of time
following the filing of the return, until further order of the Court, or as the Court otherwise
directs. The government shall provide the Magistrate Judge with a proposed sealing order
at the time of its sealing request.
