Court records

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a Catholic diocese’s second request on Monday to stay a Connecticut Supreme Court's order to unseal court records related to dozens of clergy sex abuse suits.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Tuesday refused a Catholic diocese’s emergency request to stay an order unsealing court records related to more than 20 clergy sex abuse suits.

A Texas court clerk cannot restrict journalists' access to court files for 24 to 72 hours after they are filed, a federal judge said Tuesday in granting a preliminary injunction.

Courthouse News Service had sued Harris County District Clerk Loren Jackson in June because the court in Houston stopped providing same-day access to civil court filings. The clerk's office  started delaying access last fall when it switched to electronic filing, claiming that the new system created the delay.

The Supreme Court of Florida refused to block public access to electronic records of court proceedings, in a unanimous decision released Thursday.

The Cincinnati Enquirer was wrongly denied access to court records in the case of a man accused of killing his wife and four children, an Ohio appeals court has ruled.

Two county judges presiding over the case of Michel Veillette last year sealed search warrants, public preliminary hearing records, and other documents on the grounds that their disclosure could affect the outcome of the trial, according to the Enquirer. The paper appealed.

In a ruling due to be formally published this week, the Connecticut Supreme Court has found that documents filed in more than two dozen civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport should be unsealed.

Several news organizations are asking a federal judge to release prosecution evidence on the eve of a terrorism trial in Atlanta, The Associated Press reports.

A Florida appeals court on Wednesday refused the Tampa Tribune's request for an audio recording of a sentencing hearing. Although the court in question relied on digital equipment rather than a human court reporter to document the proceedings, the appellate panel found, only the written transcript is subject to public release.

A Wyoming court's policy of banning public access to child endangerment cases files violates the state public records law, a judge ruled Thursday, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.

At a discussion Tuesday on Capitol Hill of crime policies, including how to improve the odds of successful reentry for felons leaving prison, the American Bar Association's attempt to seal off access to criminal records reared its head again.

But it appears the ABA has abandoned those efforts, in a win for open-government advocates.