High court refuses to stop release of clergy abuse suit records

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal by a Connecticut Roman Catholic diocese to stop the release of records related to sexual-abuse lawsuits against its priests.

The Associated Press reported that the Court denied the Diocese of Bridgeport’s appeal to overturn the Connecticut high court’s order to unseal more than 12,000 pages of documents from 23 lawsuits.

Publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post  and the Hartford Courant requested to see the documents. The New York Times intervened in the case in 2002.

The diocese has been fighting for years to prevent the release of the documents, arguing that the First Amendment prohibits the government from "intruding into internal decisions about priest assignments," the AP said.

The Supreme Court refused to grant a delay last month while they considered the appeal and it issued Monday’s order without comment.