McGee v. The City of Hercules
- Thomas Hixson
- 3:23-cv-05161
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In McGee v. City of Hercules, Judge Hixson granted in part and denied in part McGee’s motion to seal court filings.
Anthony McGee’s motion to seal was partly granted and partly denied. ECF No. 66 was sealed, while the other listed filings were not sealed under this order. The ruling also addressed public access to the court’s records.
What happened
In McGee v. The City of Hercules, Anthony McGee asked the court to seal several filings, including materials referring to juvenile court proceedings.
The court said judicial records generally should remain accessible to the public, but juvenile court records can contain sensitive information that justifies sealing. It found that ECF No. 66 contained juvenile court records.
Judge Thomas S. Hixson granted the motion as to ECF No. 66 and denied it as to ECF Nos. 14, 20, 2, 29–30, 31, 38, 50, 57, and 67–69. The court advised that future sealing requests must follow the court’s local rule.
The detailed version
- McGee v. The City of Hercules · No. 3:23-cv-05161
- Thomas Hixson
- June 6, 2025
Background
Anthony McGee filed a motion to seal under Civil Local Rule 79-5. The motion sought to seal several documents, including materials involving or referring to juvenile court proceedings.
Legal standard
The court explained that the public generally has a right to inspect and copy judicial records. That right is not absolute, and courts may deny access for clearly justifiable reasons. The court noted that juvenile court records contain sensitive information that can outweigh the presumption of public access.
Ruling
The court found that ECF No. 66 contained juvenile court records and granted McGee’s motion as to that filing. The court found that the remaining documents did not contain juvenile court records; references to juvenile court proceedings in those documents concerned proceedings already in the public record. The court therefore denied the motion as to ECF Nos. 14, 20, 2, 29–30, 31, 38, 50, 57, and 67–69.
The court advised McGee that any future requests to seal must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. The order was signed by United States Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.