It is up to the participants to bring in experts to make sure the judge has enough relevant information to make an informed decision. Really, even in this case

It is up to the participants to bring in experts to make sure the judge has enough relevant information to make an informed decision. Really, even in this case, it does not seem like the judge is doing that badly on grokking the technology. I think it's actually the other way around, where Lavabit doesn't understand the judicial system and the concept of evidentiary chain of custody.