Sealed records

Abner Mikva – retired federal judge, congressman, and White House counsel – urged lawyers at the American Bar Association convention to stop routinely filing court documents under seal, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

A federal judge in California conducted an entire trial this week behind closed doors, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A Maryland appellate court on Friday upheld a trial court's order allowing a Baltimore television station to copy two recordings of explicit confessions in a high-profile murder trial.

A Baltimore jury convicted John Gaumer of raping and murdering Josie Brown, whom he met on Myspace, in 2007. During Gaumer’s trial, prosecutors introduced two taped confessions, one videotaped and one audiotaped. On March 5, 2008, the trial court granted WBAL-TV’s request to copy portions of the tapes.

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.

The public has a right to know the details of pending charges and the government's evidence against Guantanamo Bay detainees who are challenging their detention, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

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.

The judge overseeing the high-profile divorce of Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons ruled unconstitutional a statute that automatically sealed divorce cases on the request of either party, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

A Manhattan judge considering whether to unseal approximately one million pages of documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks said yesterday that he will likely deny requests for public access, Reuters reports.  

A Manhattan federal court will hear oral arguments Wednesday on whether more than a million pages of documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks should remain sealed.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the United States District Court in New York City will hear arguments from The New York Times and the Reporters Committee, as well as victims’ families and attorneys for the aviation industry defendants.

The Judicial Conference of the United States has adopted a new policy of publicly acknowledging the existence of so-called “super-sealed” cases, Legal Times reports.  

The Judicial Conference is the body that sets policy for the federal courts. Its policies are considered highly persuasive and are often incorporated into local court rules.