Opinion ID: 516487
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Procedures for Ordering Grand Jury Proceedings Closed

Text: 13 Intervenors claim that the district court could not have issued this closure order without first granting them a hearing and without articulating reasons for the order. A court must hold a hearing and give reasons for its closure of criminal proceedings. See Newman v. Graddick, 696 F.2d 796 (11th Cir.1983) (district court must disclose balance involved in closing criminal proceedings); accord, United States v. Kooistra, 796 F.2d 1390 (11th Cir.1986). This is because those proceedings are presumptively open, and because that openness benefits the criminal justice system itself. See Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, 478 U.S. 1, 106 S.Ct. 2735, 92 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986). In the case of grand jury proceedings, however, the reverse is true. 14 The district court did hold a hearing involving the government and the University to determine whether the closure order should issue. That hearing was closed under Rule 6(e)(5). See Fed.R.Crim.P. 6(e)(5) (the court shall order a hearing on matters affecting a grand jury proceeding to be closed to the extent necessary to prevent disclosure of matters occurring before a grand jury). The intervenors themselves had no right to access the material disclosed or potentially disclosed at that hearing. See United States v. Anderson, 799 F.2d 1438, 1440 (11th Cir.1986) (public and press not entitled to hearing on whether discovery document in civil trial should be sealed absent right to view material), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 931, 107 S.Ct. 1567, 94 L.Ed.2d 760 (1987). Consequently, we find no error in the procedures the district court utilized in determining whether to issue the closure order.