Doe 1 v. McAleenan
- Beth Freeman
- 5:18-cv-02349
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Doe 1 v. McAleenan, Judge Freeman granted defendants’ motion to seal sensitive portions of a prior order and a supporting declaration.
The order affected defendants’ request to restrict public access to specified portions of two court filings, plaintiffs who opposed some redactions, and members of the public seeking access to those portions.
What happened
Doe 1 v. McAleenan concerned defendants’ request to keep portions of the court’s June 16, 2020 order and Gabriel K. Poling’s supporting declaration from public view. Plaintiffs opposed some of the proposed redactions.
The court found compelling reasons to seal the identified material. It said the material contained sensitive counterterrorism intelligence, methods, and techniques, and that disclosure could create serious risks to national security and refugee-vetting efforts.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman granted defendants’ administrative motion to seal the specified portions of both documents. The order disposed of ECF 364.
The detailed version
- Doe 1 v. McAleenan · No. 5:18-cv-02349
- Beth Freeman
- Sept. 22, 2020
Background
Defendants filed an administrative motion to seal portions of the court’s June 16, 2020 order, identified as ECF 357, and portions of Gabriel K. Poling’s declaration supporting the motion, identified as ECF 364-6. Plaintiffs opposed some of the proposed redactions.
Legal standard
The court explained that judicial records are generally available to the public. Records more than tangentially related to the merits of a case may be sealed only for “compelling reasons,” while records only tangentially related to the merits may be sealed upon a showing of “good cause.” The court also noted that sealing requests must be narrowly tailored and supported by a declaration showing that the material is sealable under the district’s local rules.
Court’s analysis
The court found compelling reasons to seal the highlighted portions of ECF 357. It described those portions as containing highly sensitive counterterrorism intelligence, methods, and techniques. According to the court, disclosure could provide terrorists, associates, or criminals with a roadmap showing how law enforcement gathers, evaluates, analyzes, and shares information about them or other terrorists or criminals. The court stated that disclosure could cause individuals to change their behavior or take precautions to avoid detection, potentially compromising current and future national-security investigations.
The court also granted sealing as to the highlighted portions of ECF 364-6, pages 4 through 6. It found that the declaration explicitly identified direct uses for the information in ECF 357 and could provide potential national-security threats with a roadmap to the refugee-vetting processes that defendants sought to protect from public disclosure.
Disposition
Judge Beth Labson Freeman granted defendants’ administrative motion to seal portions of the June 16, 2020 order and portions of Gabriel K. Poling’s declaration. The order disposed of ECF 364.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.