Blanket sealing order

The judge presiding over the fatal Colorado movie theater shooting case granted the release of about three dozen relevant court documents on Monday, but kept many of the records under seal.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently released dozens of documents about a businessman turned government witness as part of a request that the high court find that a 12-year-old blanket sealing order in the case amounts to an unconstitutional prior restraint.

A Virginia appellate court avoided deciding if a newspaper had a right of access to trial exhibits in a child murder case, despite a dissenting judge’s opinion that a procedural issue should not have barred a ruling that sealing the records violated the media’s First Amendment rights.

Court records in a Louisiana parish relating to sex crimes are now open to the public, after years of being under blanket seal.

Previously, no criminal court records involving allegations of sexual assault or abuse were available to the public, per oral order of the judges in the 27th judicial district, said Charles Jagneaux, St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court.

This secrecy was problematic for public safety and awareness reasons, Jagneaux said.