UN I TE D ST AT ES D I STRI CT C OU RT F O R T H E D IS T R IC T O F C O LU M B IA

__________________________________________ ) NA TU RA LRES OU RCE S DE F EN SE ) COUNCI L , et al., ) ) Pla int if fs , ) ) v. ) Ci vi l A cti onNo. 08 -17 09 (P L F) ) STEVEN CHU, et a l., ) ) De fe nd ants
. ) __________________________________________) MEMORANDUM OPI

NI ON AND ORDER This matter is befor e the Court on the pa rties’ joint motion t o amend the pr ote c tiv e or de r [1 7]. T he Court pr e vio us ly

a pp ro ve d th e oth e r r e qu e st m a de in t he pa rt ie s’ mot ion , mo dif

yingthe sc he du lin gor de r. Th e Court wi ll n ot, ho we ve r, a

pp ro ve the pa

rt ie s’ proposed pr otective or der be cause para g raph 6 is inconsistent with “this country ’s strong tradition of ac cess to judicial proc eeding s.” United States v. Hubba rd, 650 F .2d 293, 317 n. 89 (D.C. Cir. 1980).

As a g ener al rule, the courts ar e not intended to be, nor should they

be, sec retive place s for the r esolution of secr et disputes. See, e.g ., Nix on v. Warner Communications, Inc., 43 5 U .S. 58 9, 59 7 ( 19 78 ) ( “ It is c le ar t hat th e c ourt s o f t

his c ountr y re c ognize a

g e ne ra l r ight t o inspect and c opy

public rec ords and doc uments, including judicia l rec ords and doc uments.”). Gi ve n th e po lic y

in f avo r o f p ub lic a c c e ss, and the e a se wi th whic h c on fi de nti a l and po te nti a lly confide ntial information may be re dacte d from docume nts before they are filed publicly , the Court concludes that this case ca n and should be ope n to the public to the greatest ext ent2

possible. For that rea son, para g raph 6 of the par ties’ Amende d Protective Or der – which provides for

the filingunder se al of a ll documents filed with the Court containinginformation f r o m , o r qu o t e f r o mo r p ar a p hr a s e “ C o n f

i d e n t i a l D o c um e n t s ” –

mu s tb e am e n d e d

. S p e c i f i c a l l y, pa ra g ra ph6 mu st b e ame nd e d to pr ov ide a s f oll ow s: 1. All documents of any

nature , including motions and brie fs, that contain conf

idential materia l a par

ty proposes to kee p under se al shall be filed with the Court under seal in an e nvelope or

other container marke d with the title of the ac tion, the titl e of the court filing which contains the c onfidential material, and the state ment “ F I L ED UN DE R SE AL ” be low the Court
. 2. With in f

ive bu sin e ss d ay s a

pa rt y fi lin gsu c h d oc ume nts wi th the Court sh a ll als o file on the public re cord a copy of the documents in which the c onfidential material is redac ted. Alternatively , if – an d o nly if – th e re da c tio ns are so e xten siv e a s to rende r the doc uments useless to the re ader , the par ty shall file on the public re cord a

notice of the filing of

the documents unde r sea l i nth e i r e n t i r e ty. 3. Re da c tio ns to p ub lic c op ie s o f d oc ume nts sh a ll b e ma de so le ly to the extent necessar

y to preser ve the c onfidentiality

of the re le va nt i nf or matio n a nd in a c c or da

nc e wi th t he pr inc ipl e s se t f

or th in this Memorandum Opinion and Orde r. A c c o r d i n g l y, i ti s h e r e b y ORDE RED that th e pa

rt ie s’ joi nt m oti on

to m od if y the sc he du lin gor de r a

nd to mod if y to p ro te c tiv e or de r [1 7] is de nie d in pa rt ; and it i s F UR TH ER O RD ERE D that on or be fo re Ma

y 14 , 2 00 9 th e pa

rt ie s sh a ll m e e t, confe r and f

ile with the Court an amende d protec tive order . That protec tive order must be amende d as desc ribed a

bove. The parties’ amende d protec tive order may be identica l to the3

curr ent Stipulated Protective Orde r in all other r espec ts.

SO ORDERED. _/s/_________________________ PAULL . FRI EDMAN DATE: Apr il 30, 2009 United States District J udg e