Columbine records to stay sealed for 20 years, court affirms

A federal appeals court in Colorado on Monday refused to strike down a lower court order sealing records in the 1999 Columbine shootings for 20 years, The Denver Post reported.

U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock opted to seal depositions taken from the parents of the high school gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, during a pair of civil lawsuits. Families of several victims wanted the documents released.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver (10th Cir.) sided with the judge, finding that the parents’ sworn statements counted as "records ‘made’ by a court," The Post said, and thus were correctly vaulted away in the National Archives and Records Administration under the Federal Records Act.