Sealed Court Records

(a) In General. (1) No filing or portion of a filing will be placed under seal unless the Court so orders. (2) Requests for sealing should be narrowly tailored to the specific text, page, or portion of any material that warrants sealing. A party should not request sealing an entire filing, unless necessary.

(3) Sealed records shall not be available to the public. (b) Requesting Sealing. (1) Motion Required. A party requesting sealing must file a motion that includes the following information without disclosing the substance of the information to be sealed: (A) scope of sealing (e.g., specific text, entire document, existence of a document); (B) supporting reasons with reference to applicable law; (C) who may access the sealed information (e.g., Court only; Court and the original filer; Court and parties to the case); triggering circumstances or date for unsealing; (D) (E) copy of the proposed filing that redacts all proposed sealed material, unless sealing of the entire document is requested; and (F) proposed order containing items in subparagraphs (A) to (D).

(2) Submission of Material Sought to Be Filed Under Seal. Contemporaneous with filing the motion to seal, the movant must provide the Clerk of Court with the material sought to be filed under seal in an unredacted form. (3) Sealing of Motion to Seal. A motion to seal shall itself not be sealed unless the Court provides approval in advance, except a motion to seal the following shall be sealed without need for a Court order: (A) Search, seizure, and arrest warrants and affidavits; 43 (B) Applications for pen/trap devices; and (C) Applications for orders for wire, oral, or electronic communication interception.

(c) Orders on Motions to Seal. Unless the Court states otherwise, an order ruling on a motion to seal shall be publicly available. (d) Disposition of Proposed Sealed Material. If the Court denies a motion to seal, the material sought to be sealed will be returned to the moving party unless that party files a notice of intent to appeal the denial within 14 days, in which case the Clerk of Court will retain the material for purposes of the appeal.

(e) Exceptions. The following records shall be automatically sealed without any sealing motion or order: (1) Motions, orders, notices, and other matters occurring before a grand jury; (2) Affidavits submitted in support of a request for appointment of counsel based on indigency; (3) Requests and orders for authorization of investigative, expert, or other services pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act; (4) (5) (6) (7) Pleadings and documents involving the Juvenile Delinquency Act; Pretrial services reports; Psychiatric or psychological evaluations; Sentencing related documents described in LR Crim. 32A(a)(1) and (2); and (8) Other documents required by law to be filed under seal. 44