Grand jury

A federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday ordered the unsealing of the transcript of former President Richard Nixon's 1975 grand jury testimony related to the Watergate investigation, subject to the "review procedures" of the federal agency in possession of the records.

A state judge in California granted Friday a defense attorney’s request to seal the transcript of criminal grand jury testimony on the grounds that releasing the document to the public would interfere with the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

The transcript of the testimony, sealed by Judge Lisa Novak of the San Mateo County Superior Court, details evidence the grand jury used to determine that the defendant, Alexander Robert Youshock, 18, should stand trial for an alleged failed massacre attempt at his high school, the San Mateo Daily Journal reported.

An outspoken pain relief advocate has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to shield her from a grand jury subpoena that threatens her First Amendment right to criticize the government, according to a recently unsealed but still redacted petition in a case that also has implications for journalists called before grand juries.

Reporters at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette were granted access to grand jury-related documents Friday after an Allegheny County judge reversed an earlier ruling that had retroactively sealed them.

A New York judge yesterday granted Straus Newspapers' motion to quash a prosecutors' subpoena that sought the identities of anonymous web posters on a newspaper website, the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record reported.

The governor of Illinois must turn over federal subpoenas to requesters, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration is under federal investigation, and several indictments have been handed down against those close to him. A watchdog group, the Better Government Association, sought copies of subpoenas sent to Blagojevich under the state open records law.

The Louisiana Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in an open-records dispute over documents from a state investigation into the highly publicized post-Hurricane Katrina deaths of patients at Memorial Medical Center.

The Associated Press wants a Pennsylvania judge to open up his inquiry into grand jury leaks from a casino owner's perjury case, in an ongoing matter that has so far seen more than a dozen subpoenas of reporters sent out, and then quashed.

A federal judge in New York decided Tuesday not to release the grand jury testimony of a crucial witness in Ethel Rosenberg's 1950s espionage case, although other related witness transcripts will be made public, The New York Times reported.

A California judge subpoenaed Washington Times reporter William Gertz in May over suspected grand jury leaks in a Chinese espionage case. Now, if Gertz refuses to divulge his sources, as he's indicated he will do, the judge wants him to appear in court and say why.