Well a judge must have thought it a valid one. Cause some judge authorized a search warrant for such.
I haven’t read the Cato article but I think you’d understand what yhwx is saying if you did. The boy has sued the estate of the detective (who was found to have a prurient interest in children and killed himself) who sought the warrant. And in that case a court ruled the warrant was obviously inappropriate. No idea how the issuing judge justified issuance of the warrant.