Secret courts
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Illinois · July 23, 2010 · Secret courts
Court to decide on release of Blagojevich juror names
The federal judge presiding over the corruption trial of Rod Blagojevich appears reluctant to release the names of the jurors who will decide the former Illinois governor's fate.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel on Thursday listened to arguments presented both by the government and a media coalition on whether or not the names of jurors empaneled in the trial should become public. The news organizations, including the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times, argued that keeping the names secret violated the public's right to an open court system.
"There are no juror safety issues in this case, and the juror's individual desire for privacy is not sufficient justification by itself to withhold his or her identity," wrote the news organizations in a memorandum to the court.
The government pushed for the names to be kept secret, arguing that the Wednesday arrest of a journalist who was questioning an attorney in the case shows that the media can be disruptive to proceedings.
Judge Zagel appeared to sympathize with the government, stating that it was his duty to . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 5:18 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Washington, D.C. · July 14, 2010 · Secret courts
Access to high-profile obscenity trial partially blocked
The federal district court in the District of Columbia is hearing its first obscenity case in over 20 years, but members of the press and public are being denied access to critical portions of the trial process.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon is presiding over the trial of adult film producer and website owner John Stagliano and two of his companies. Stagliano is facing up to 32 years in prison for distributing movies that are allegedly obscene, meaning that they have no artistic or scientific value. FBI agents in the D.C. area had purchased and downloaded videos from Stagliano's website, thereby allowing the Department of Justice to prosecute Stagliano in D.C. federal court.
Portions of the trial proceedings have been sealed from the start. Judge Leon conducted the jury selection process, also known as voir dire, in secret. Jury selection is typically an open proceeding that can be attended by any member of the public, unless the judge makes specific findings on the record that there is a “compelling interest” in closing a courtroom and that the closure is “narrowly . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 4:56 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Illinois · July 6, 2010 · Secret courts
Appeals court orders hearing on Blagojevich juror names
A federal appellate court has ruled that the judge presiding over the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich must hold a hearing to determine whether juror names should be kept secret.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago (7th Cir.) said on July 2 that U.S. District Judge James Zagel “acted without evidence” when he originally ruled that the jurors in the high-profile trial should remain anonymous until after the trial was completed.
“We do not know the answers to some vital questions,” the appellate court said, adding that they would be interested in knowing if jurors in other high-profile case had been pestered by the media after being instructed to ignore unsolicited contact about the trial and if there were any alternatives to total sequestration.
Multiple media organizations, including the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times, challenged Judge Zagel’s original order and argued that there is a presumption of access to juror names while the trial is proceeding. They also argued that access to jurors is . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 5:46 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Virginia · June 11, 2010 · Secret courts
Media seeks to unseal records in lacrosse murder trial
Four media organizations that teamed up and petitioned a Charlottesville judge to unseal records in the trial of a University of Virginia student charged with murder won a small battle on Tuesday.
But the fight isn’t over.
The news outlets were able to obtain copies of partially redacted orders explaining why search warrants and affidavits have been sealed, but the records themselves remain out of the public’s view.
David Lacy, an associate with the Richmond law firm Christian & Barton, which is representing the media outlets in the case, said a motion will likely be filed in the coming days asking Judge Cheryl Higgins to unseal all records in the case. A July 1 hearing is scheduled for Higgins to hear arguments on the motion.
“We’ll be making the decision whether to file a motion very quickly,” he said. “But we just got the [partially unsealed orders] and we’re reviewing them.”
The records are related to the May 3 death of University of Virginia senior and star lacrosse player Yeardley Love. Love’s former boyfriend, George Hughley, also a lacrosse player, is charged with first . . . [more]
— Ellen Biltz, 4:43 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE California · May 19, 2010 · Secret courts
Court unseals records in iPhone investigation
A media coalition has successfully convinced a court to unseal a search warrant affidavit used to search a journalist's home for evidence about a missing iPhone prototype.
Gizmodo editor and technology blogger Jason Chen had allegedly purchased the next-generation iPhone from Brian Hogan, who had found it at a restaurant where it had been left by an Apple employee. Police obtained a search warrant affidavit for Chen's home, but the court sealed the affidavit, preventing the media and public from reviewing the officer's reasoning that led to the search.
The media coalition, comprised of Wired.com, Bloomberg News, CNET, the Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, and the California Newspaper Publishers Association, filed a brief asking for the records to be unsealed because the public has a right to access the records and because the order sealing the records did not comply with judicial requirements.
Gawker Media, the owner of the Gizmodo website, had also asked the county authorities to immediately return the computers and servers taken from Chen's home, arguing that these materials . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 5:47 pm · View reader comments (3)
QUICKLINK Washington, D.C. · May 13, 2010 · Secret courts
Court seals transcript of Guantanamo hearing open to public
The Department of Justice has asked the D.C. federal appeals court to redact a transcript of an oral argument in a Guantanamo Bay case that occurred in a public courtroom, the Blog of LegalTimes reports.
The case, Kiyemba v. Obama, was sent back to the appellate court after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a decision that federal judges cannot order the release of a Guantanamo Bay detainees into the United States. Oral arguments in the case occurred on . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 6:28 pm · Comments: 0
PRESS RELEASE Washington, D.C. · May 7, 2010 · Secret courts
Reporters Committee objects to Pentagon treatment of reporters
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is seeking a meeting with Department of Defense officials to discuss the expulsion of four experienced reporters who have been banned from reporting on military commission proceedings at Guantanamo Bay.
Reporters Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, Michelle Shephard of the Toronto Star, Paul Koring of The Globe and Mail, and Steven Edwards of Canwest News Service were kicked out of the proceedings because they published the name of a previously publicly identified U.S. army interrogator who is a witness in an ongoing proceeding.
The Pentagon sent a letter on Thursday to the four news organizations that employ the reporters, declaring that the individual journalists may no longer cover . . . [more]
— Posted at 1:12 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK California · May 6, 2010 · Secret courts
Media asks court to unseal records in iPhone investigation
News organizations are asking a state judge to unseal the search warrant affidavit that led to police searching an editor's phone for evidence about a missing iPhone prototype, The Los Angeles Times and Wired reported.
Police raided the home of technology blogger and Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, who had allegedly purchased the next-generation iPhone from 21-year-old . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 2:47 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK North Carolina · May 5, 2010 · Secret courts
Judge seals testimony of John Edwards' mistress for 45 days
A North Carolina state judge has sealed the deposition of former presidential candidate John Edwards' mistress for at least 45 days, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Rielle Hunter sued former Edwards aide Andrew Young and his wife Cheri for the return of an alleged sex tape of Rielle and Edwards.
Young has asked the judge dismiss the lawsuit because of Hunter's repeated refusal to give a deposition -- Hunter's attorneys claim that Young only wants testimony from . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 5:47 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK U.S. Supreme Court · April 16, 2010 · Secret courts
High court denies broadcasters access to audio recordings
The U.S. Supreme Court's denial on Wednesday of broadcasters' requests to gain access to audio tapes in a case over a religious controversy means that this will be the first full term in four years that the court has not released expedited audio of arguments in at least one high-profile case, The Associated Press reported.
Since Bush v. Gore in 2000, the court has occasionally allowed for the quick release of audio tapes in high-profile cases because . . . [more]
— Christine Beckett, 5:50 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Illinois · April 14, 2010 · Secret courts
Judge gives media access to previously sealed Blagojevich papers
An Illinois federal judge has given three news organizations immediate access to a previously sealed document in the case against former Governor Rod Blagojevich, the Associated Press reports.
The Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times had recently asked Judge James B. Zagel to unseal the so-called "Santiago proffer" -- the document that outlines the government's case against Blagojevich. The proffer is thought to . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 5:00 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Pennsylvania · April 12, 2010 · Secret courts
Docket sealed in case against state senator
A Pennsylvania judge has sealed the entire docket in a case involving a criminal indictment against a state senator, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Judge John Zottola of the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court originally sealed only certain documents and motions in the case against state Senator Jane Orie, who is accused of using state employees to run a political campaign for her sister. However in a hearing last Thursday, Judge Zottola ruled that all previous documents in the case are now . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 6:03 pm · View reader comments (2)
QUICKLINK U.S. · April 8, 2010 · Secret courts
No-fly lawsuit could shed light on secretive classification process
A federal judge told Justice Department attorneys that they are abusing the secrecy privilege by uniformly withholding information on why individuals are placed on no-fly lists as suspected terrorists, The New York Times reported.
The comment was made during a December hearing in the case of Stanford University professor and Malaysia native Rahinah Ibrahim, who sued the government after she endured an airport search and had her visa revoked. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 4:30 pm · View reader comments (1)
QUICKLINK U.S. · April 8, 2010 · Secret courts
Openness urged in military commission policy revisions
A group of civil liberties advocates, human rights activists and other interested parties are urging the Defense Department to make military commission procedures more open as it revises its rules and policies, The National Law Journal reported.
The military commission system was created . . . [more]
— Christine Beckett, 4:28 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Nebraska · April 6, 2010 · Secret courts
Nebraska bill opens government legal settlements
Nebraska has enacted a law that will require government bodies to keep public records of legal settlements, The Associated Press reported.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed the bill, LB 742, this week. It will make it more difficult for government entities to keep costly legal settlements secret and will prevent them from arguing that confidentiality agreements prohibit public access to settlements.
The bill was proposed by state Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha after a secret settlement last year that paid . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 5:43 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK D.C. Cir. · April 5, 2010 · Secret courts
D.C. appeals court suddenly closes Guantanamo detainee hearing
A federal appeals court judge abruptly closed the courtroom just a minute after arguments began today in the case of a Guantanamo Bay detainee, The Blog of Legal Times reported.
Chief Judge David Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. interrupted detainee representative John Ewald one minute into the attorney’s argument in the habeas corpus case, citing the possibility of unintentionally discussing confidential information as . . . [more]
— Nadia Tamez-Robledo, 5:50 pm · View reader comments (1)
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Florida · March 19, 2010 · Secret courts
Florida high court expands access in criminal cases
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday extended a ban on secrecy in civil court cases to criminal proceedings.
The amended rules were prompted by controversial reports in local newspapers that said prosecutors were altering public dockets to cover up the felony convictions of informants, the Broward Bulldog reported. The reports led to a 2007 rule change that prohibited secret dockets in civil cases -- the most recent rule amendments extended the ban to criminal and appellate cases, which now must have case numbers available to the public even if other information is sealed.
Carol LoCicero, a partner at Thomas & LoCicero and board member of The First Amendment Foundation, said the changes establish a limited number of categories of information that is automatically withheld from the public.
"It's a victory for access if you put it in the context of how far we have come," LoCicero said.
There are now 19 categories of information -- including adoption records, Social Security numbers and juvenile delinquency . . . [more]
— Curry Andrews, 5:53 pm · Comments: 0
QUICKLINK Washington, D.C. · March 17, 2010 · Secret courts
Federal courts improve public access to documents
The Judicial Conference of the United States has approved measures to make federal court documents and courtroom audio recordings more accessible to the general public, the Blog of the Legal Times reported.
Conference members voted on Tuesday to increase the number of free documents available on PACER, the online access site for federal court documents, and expand a pilot program that provides digital audio recordings of court proceedings. Any person can now obtain $10 worth . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 5:34 pm · View reader comments (2)
QUICKLINK New Mexico · March 16, 2010 · Secret courts
New Mexico Supreme Court adopts new rules for sealing records
The New Mexico Supreme Court has adopted a uniform set of rules that will dictate when court records can be sealed, including a presumption that the records are public, the El Defensor Chieftain reported.
Beginning on July 1, records that are not automatically sealed by statute can only be sealed by court order. Specific identifying information, like Social Security numbers, will be . . . [more]
— Christine Beckett, 4:06 pm · View reader comments (1)
QUICKLINK Washington · March 10, 2010 · Secret courts
Washington paper asks high court to unseal murder trial expenses
Attorneys for a Washington newspaper argued before the state Supreme Court on Tuesday that a county improperly withheld expenses incurred defending a double-homicide case from a public-records request because the records were sealed by a judge,The Yakima Herald-Times reported.
The Herald-Times contended that it is in the public’s interest to review how more than $2 million in public funds was spent representing the two murder defendants and asked . . . [more]
— Nadia Tamez-Robledo, 5:55 pm · Comments: 0
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