Opinion ID: 391003
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Generalized Interests for and Against Public Access in This Case

Text: 43 Some aspects of the public's interest in access and of the appellants' interests in denying public access can be weighed without examining the contents of the documents at issue. In the remainder of this opinion these aspects of the competing interests involved in this case are referred to as the generalized interests at stake. 44 We acknowledge an important presumption in favor of public access to all facets of criminal court proceedings but we conclude that on the record now before us an assessment of the generalized interests here at stake does not support a conclusion that the documents at issue should not be retained under seal. 45 We cannot determine from the trial judge's orders what factors entered into his initial decision to unseal or even if he found a weighing of these generalized interests appropriate. For this reason alone we must remand. However, taken as having weighed only the generalized interests, we think the unsealing decision was an abuse of discretion. Compelling this conclusion in this case is an analysis of several relevant factors discussed under separate subheadings below. 46
47 Under this heading we bring together several considerations which in our judgment bear upon the precise weight to be assigned in this case to the always strong presumption in favor of public access to judicial proceedings. Some of these considerations have already been mentioned and others, because they also bear on the reasons why public access might be denied, will be emphasized again later. 48 We first note that this case does not involve access to the courtroom conduct of a criminal trial, recently found by the Supreme Court to be constitutionally protected. 90 Nor does it involve access to the courtroom conduct of a pre-trial suppression motion, access the Court a year earlier ruled the sixth amendment alone did not protect. 91 It does not involve access to documents which have been introduced as evidence of guilt or innocence in a trial, 92 nor even documents whose contents have been discussed or insofar as we can determine relied upon by the trial judge in his decision on the defendants' motion to suppress. As we emphasize below, 93 it concerns only access to documents introduced by the defendants solely to show the overbreadth of a search whose lawfulness, although decided by the trial judge in the government's favor, was certain to be appealed at the time the unsealing order was entered. 94 49 The public in this case had access, inter alia, to the courtroom proceedings on the motion to suppress, to the memoranda filed by the parties in connection with that motion, to the trial judge's memorandum decision on the suppression motion, to the trial judge's memorandum decision on the negotiated disposition, to the stipulated record which was the basis for the defendants' convictions and to the actual trial of the criminal charges of which the defendants were convicted. None of the documents at issue here was either used in the examination of witnesses during the protracted public hearing on the suppression motion or specifically referred to in the trial judge's public decision on the motion to suppress or included as part of the publicly available stipulated record on which the defendants' criminal convictions were had. 95 50 Under all these circumstances we conclude that the purposes of public access are only modestly served by the trial judge's unsealing decision.
51 Although the materials at issue are part of the record of the proceedings, their contents were not publicly revealed until the court entered its unsealing order. 96 Previous access is a factor which may weigh in favor of subsequent access. Determining whether, when and under what conditions the public has already had access to court records in a given case cannot of course guide decision concerning whether, when and under what conditions the public should have access as an original matter. However, previous access has been considered relevant to a determination whether more liberal access should be granted to materials formerly properly accessible on a limited basis through legitimate public channels 97 and to a determination whether further dissemination of already accessible materials can be restrained. 98 52 The record in this case reveals no such access to the documents until the district court decided that there was a right in the public to know. 99 There is thus no previous access to weigh in favor of the access granted through the district court's unsealing order. 53
54 Strong objections were raised to the unsealing order both by the individual defendants and, to the extent it was permitted, by the Church. This is an obvious but important consideration. The kinds of property and privacy interests asserted by the Church to require retention of the documents under seal can be waived by failure to assert them in timely fashion, 100 and the strength with which a party asserts its interests is a significant indication of the importance of those rights to that party. 55 An important element in this case is the fact that the party from whom the documents were seized was not made a defendant in the proceedings and now objects to public access to the fruits of the seizure. We think that where a third party's property and privacy rights are at issue the need for minimizing intrusion is especially great and the public interest in access to materials which have never been judicially determined to be relevant to the crimes charged is especially small. 101 56 We are well aware that all defendants here were officials or employees of the Church and that the defendants' interests and the Church's interests are integrally related; nonetheless it is also true that their interests are not identical. The defendants might not be permitted 102 and are certainly not required to raise the Church's interests in preventing public access to the documents at issue. Even in the context of this case, then, we think the fact that objection to access is made by a third party weighs in favor of non-disclosure. 57
58 That the documents were seized from non-public areas of Church premises is undisputed. Accordingly, the Church's standing to assert the kinds of generalized interests which derived from the fact of seizure from its premises-interests which we have discussed above in connection with the Church's procedural rights 103 -is unquestionably strong. 104 By this we mean its interest on this record is direct and substantial, substantial enough, given the other factors to be considered in weighing the generalized interests in public access against the generalized interest in nondisclosure here asserted, to require retention of the documents under seal. 59 The standing of the individual defendants to assert these generalized interests in the documents at issue is less clear. Because the Church's asserted interests are strong and the defendants assert no conflicting interest, we need not determine the precise scope of the individuals' generalized interests in the retention of the documents under seal. We note, however, that the defendants' standing to assert certain of these generalized property and privacy interests may be broader than the scope of their standing to object to an unlawful search and seizure. 105
60 Two defendants whose extradition has only recently been accomplished remain to be tried. In addition, the government has the right to try the nine convicted defendants on any of the remaining counts should their single-count convictions be overturned on appeal. Thus, the possibility of prejudice to the defendants by sensational disclosure is a factor which may weigh in favor of denying immediate public access. 106 The likelihood of prejudice will in turn depend on a number of factors, including, most importantly, the nature of the materials disclosed. Until such an examination is undertaken, the weight of this factor cannot be determined. The trial judge's conclusion that the possibility of prejudice is remote 107 -ostensibly reached without complete familiarity with the documents-cannot, therefore, favor public access. 61
62 The single most important element in our conclusion that the proper balance has not been struck in this case is the fact that the documents at issue were introduced by the defendants for the sole purpose of demonstrating the unlawfulness of the search and seizure. Whatever the purposes served by the exclusionary rule, the fundamental thrust of the fourth amendment is at bottom the protection of privacy and property interests. 108 Putting aside for the moment the prospect of untoward invasions of third-party interests, it would be ironic indeed if one who contests the lawfulness of a search and seizure were always required to acquiesce in a substantial invasion of those interests simply to vindicate them. 109 63 It must be remembered that the documents here were not determined by the trial judge to be relevant to the crimes charged; they were not used in the subsequent trial; nor were they described or even expressly relied upon by the trial judge in his decision on the suppression motion. Their only use by the parties and the only purpose for which they were admitted in the criminal proceedings was to assist the court in its determination of whether the search and seizure were unlawfully overbroad. If such a connection with the proceedings were enough by itself to justify public access, there would be very little left of fourth amendment and common law rights to privacy. For, by the act of attempting to show the excesses of the search by the extent of the documents seized-documents which may not be relevant to criminal charges or necessary to trial-defendants in criminal proceedings and nondefendant owners in Rule 41(e) proceedings will invite public dissemination of the contents of the documents and thereby impair the very privacy rights they seek to vindicate, regardless of the use ultimately made of the documents by the court. 64 The risk is especially grave in document searches not only because the protected position occupied by personal papers has traditionally been closely guarded 110 but because determination of a claim of overbreadth may require the court to examine the documents' contents. However, in this case it is not clear that such an examination was undertaken in the course of ruling on the suppression motion; the unsealing decision is thus especially difficult to reconcile with the purposes underlying the documents' inclusion in the record of the suppression proceedings. 65 Finally, one factor not crucial to our decision is nevertheless worth emphasizing: that is, that the lawfulness of the search and seizure was certain to be appealed at the time the trial judge entered his unsealing order. 111 That appeal has been filed and is still pending in this court. Until the appellate route has been exhausted, the lawfulness of the search and seizure has not been finally determined. The possibility of reversal on appeal contributes to the irony inherent in the decision to unseal the documents at issue. 66 Given all the factors discussed above we conclude that on the present state of the record the seal on the documents at issue here should not have been lifted, and should continue unless on remand some substantial factors are identified which weigh in favor of public access to particular documents. 67