Court Opinion

ID: 9562340
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:26:44.199385+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:18.233887
License: Public Domain

CLAY, Circuit Judge,
Dissenting.
I would grant the petition for writ of mandamus but would revise the order to provide that the petitioner’s motion to unseal is granted forthwith; I would not delay by remanding to the district court to *802rule on the motion to unseal within two weeks as provided by the order. I would also have the order indicate that the petitioner shall be provided henceforth with notice of dates of the upcoming court proceedings in the district court. As far as the motion to unseal is concerned, it should be noted that none of the parties nor the district court have provided sufficient justification in their responses to this Court for sealing the court file in the first place. All we have is the defendant’s unsubstantiated and unsupported representation that he fears retaliation from anonymous, unidentified individuals with whom he might be incarcerated in prison in the future if the file is not sealed. That vague contention is hardly enough to overcome the public interest in not sealing the file, particularly when the person making the representation is someone totally lacking in credibility who is known to identify himself by multiple names. Furthermore, in view of the passage of time without a ruling by the district court on the motion to unseal, I am completely baffled by the majority’s order to permit up to an additional two weeks to expire before the district court is required to rule. The parties and the district court were afforded ample opportunity to provide any information bearing on this issue prior to this Court’s ruling, and further delay in unsealing the file, which never should have been sealed in the first place, is entirely inappropriate and contrary to the purposes of Crime Victims’ Rights Act and the Mandatory Victims’ Restitution Act.