Opinion ID: 782472
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sealed Material

Text: 18 The district court's sealed order precluding Ortega from offering an entrapment defense was entered after it considered Ortega's sealed declarations. 8 After Ortega filed his opening brief on appeal, the government filed a motion requesting that it be furnished with a copy of Ortega's declarations and the district court's order. The government stated that it d[id] not contest the district court's authority to seal the declarations at issue, but submits that it is entitled to view the documents in order to respond to the claims defendant raises on appeal. Ortega opposed the motion, the appellate commissioner referred it to us, and we denied it several weeks prior to oral argument. Because the government's motion raises a question of first impression, we now explain the reasons for our order. 19 It is clear that the district court had the authority to accept Ortega's submissions under seal. See United States v. Hickey, 185 F.3d 1064 (9th Cir.1999) (recognizing authority of district court to accept financial affidavits under seal); United States v. Hardwell, 80 F.3d 1471, 1483-84 (10th Cir.1996) (same). The government concedes as much in its motion. In the district court, the government neither objected to the sealing of the declarations and order, nor did it argue that it needed to see Ortega's declarations in order to respond fully to his arguments on entrapment. To the contrary, the government was content to allow the district court to make its decision on the basis of the sealed documents alone. 20 Now, the government asserts that it needs to see the sealed documents in order to respond fully to the arguments Ortega raises in his opening brief. We agree that lack of access to the sealed documents hampers the government's ability to respond to Ortega's arguments. However, the government overlooks the fact that it was at an even greater disadvantage in the district court, 9 and that the issue on appeal is whether the district court's ruling was erroneous. All that has changed is that, following the district court's exclusion of Ortega's defense and his resultant failure to testify, Ortega was convicted. In the district court, the government was not permitted to respond to Ortega's evidence, and it concedes that this decision by the district court was proper. Thus, the government has no absolute right, as it asserts, to examine the evidence that Ortega marshaled in support of his request to be permitted to present an entrapment defense. We reject as well the government's argument that by appealing the district court's decision excluding his entrapment defense, Ortega waived his ability to protect his proposed testimony from disclosure. 10 Defendants do not waive their substantive rights by raising arguments on appeal. 21 When an appellate court reviews documents that were filed on an ex parte basis and properly sealed, including written orders by the district court, it must honor the district court's seal and not disclose the contents of those documents to the parties or the public. Of course, the government is free to argue that the district court erred when it sealed the documents, and the press and other interested third parties retain their right to intervene and request that particular documents be unsealed. See, e.g., Seattle Times Co. v. United States Dist. Ct., 845 F.2d 1513 (9th Cir.1988). In this case, however, no party has challenged the district court's decision to seal the documents. The government's only argument is that if the government reviewed the sealed material, this would facilitate its ability to defend the district court's order. The defendant responds that the unsealing of the documents would prejudice him in a retrial. 11 We simply fail to see any reason why we should allow the government to see a document that it concedes was properly sealed by the district court. On appeal, as in the district court, the government has the right to argue for exclusion of the entrapment defense but, as in the district court, the only evidence it will ordinarily be able to refer to is evidence that it may have filed in support of its own motion to exclude and whatever other unsealed evidence may already be before the court. Accordingly, we hold that the government is not entitled to view and respond to the sealed declarations and order. To the extent that the government was enabled to discern the factual basis of Ortega's opposition to its motion from the arguments Ortega advanced in its brief on appeal and respond to them directly, it has received a fortuitous benefit to which it was not entitled under the law. 22