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Newspapers pressure courts to unseal dockets and proceedings.

Article Excerpt
The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied certiorari to a group of newspapers that intervened to unseal a case involving a woman who alleged that her employer had fired her for having an abortion. (N.Y. Law Publg. Co. v. Doe, 129 S. Ct. 576 (2008) (mem.).)

Such cases may proceed through the courts under the radar for years, unknown to anyone but the parties involved. Courts sometimes go too far to maintain secrecy, and the task of fighting for access to closed records is often left up to the press, critics say.

The woman sued her employer under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and wanted to use a pseudonym and seal the case to keep her identity private. She argued that sealing the case was necessary because her employer is a small company, and her identity could be discovered even without her name....

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