10th Cir. R. 25.6: Filing under seal

Any party who seeks to file any document under seal in this court must overcome a presumption in favor of access to judicial records. See Eugene S. v. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, 663 F.3d 1124, 1135 (10th Cir. 2011).

(A) Motions to seal. Except as provided in Rule 11.3(B) or 11.3(C) any document—motion, response, attachment, brief, appendix, or other paper—submitted under seal must be accompanied by a motion for leave to file the document under seal. The motion must

(1) identify with particularity the specific document containing the sensitive information;

(2) explain why the sensitive information cannot reasonably be redacted in lieu of filing the entire document under seal;

(3) articulate a substantial interest that justifies depriving the public of access to the document;

(4) cite any applicable rule, statute, case law, and/or prior court order having a bearing on why the document should be sealed, keeping in mind that this court is not bound by a district court’s decision to seal a document below, see Williams v. FedEx Corporate Services, 849 F.3d 889, 905 (10th Cir. 2017); and

(5) comply with Rule 27.1.

The motion to seal should not be filed under seal unless required by the nature of the request or the need to protect sealed information.

(B) Redaction in lieu of sealing. Redaction is preferable to filing an entire document under seal. Thus, unless redaction is impracticable, the party seeking to protect sensitive information shall publicly file a redacted version of the document concurrently with the motion to seal.