Eds: UPDATES with motion denied. APNewsNow.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A federal judge has refused to order authorities to return leaflets seized from activists during a raid shortly before the Republican National Convention.

Judge John Tunheim says that although the validity of the searches has been questioned, they were authorized beforehand by two state judges and partly affirmed by another afterward.

The federal lawsuit was filed Wednesday by the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. It claimed investigators violated the First Amendment rights of the protesters. It asked that the Ramsey County sheriff be ordered to release the flyers in time for them to be distributed Thursday night.

Tunheim said that while it was "a bit far-fetched" that authorities needed hundreds of copies of a document as evidence in a criminal case, he refused to order their immediate return because the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate sufficient irreparable harm.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 09-04-08 2232CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list