Local Rule 13.1 (Criminal): Sealed Matters

13.1 Sealed Matters (Amended January 1, 2020)

(a) This Local Rule shall not apply to actions or matters for which sealing is required by statute (e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 3509(d), 26 U.S.C. § 6103 or Fed. R. Cr. P. 6(e)), to personal identifiers that are required to be redacted under Local Rule 8.1, or to other filings governed by Court policy. Nor shall this Local Rule apply to sealing criminal case documents of any kind before a charging document (e.g., a complaint, indictment or information) has been filed publicly; the United States Attorney's Office may continue to follow existing procedures for sealing criminal case documents of all kinds before a charging document has been filed publicly. Rather, this Local Rule shall apply only to requests to seal documents made by either the government or defense counsel after the public filing of a charging document.

(b) A party seeking to have a document, a portion of a document, a party or an entire case sealed bears the burden of filing an application setting forth the reason(s) that the referenced material should be sealed under the governing legal standard. See Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga County, 435 F.3d 110, 119-27 (2d Cir. 2006). The application shall be filed publicly. The party shall attach to the application or file separately a redacted version of any document that is to contain the sealed material (unless the party seeks to seal the entire document). When the party seeks to seal an entire document, the party shall attach or file that document with a blank page marked appropriately (e.g., as "Sealed Affidavit" or "Sealed Exhibit Number ___") for each requested sealed document. The application shall also attach a proposed order (which shall not be filed under seal unless the Court deems doing so to be appropriate) containing specific findings justifying the sealing under the governing legal standard for the assigned judge's approval, and including an "ORDERED" paragraph stating the referenced material to be sealed. All material sought to be sealed shall be submitted to the Court, for its in camera consideration, as an attachment (in .pdf format) to an email sent to the assigned judge's email address listed in Section 8.2 of General Order 22, and shall be served on all counsel for the affected parties. In the rare case that counsel believe that compelling interests (qualifying as the countervailing factors or higher values discussed in Lugosch) warrant an application to seal that is not filed publicly, and/or is filed ex parte, counsel shall submit a written letter request to the assigned judge's email address listed in Section 8.2 of General Order 22, explaining why counsel believe that the procedures set forth in this rule cannot be followed.

(c) Upon the assigned judge's approval of the sealing order, the sealing order shall be filed on the public docket (unless the Court deems sealing all or a portion of it to be appropriate), and the redacted or sealed document shall be filed as directed by the Court. A document, a portion of a document, a party or an entire case may be sealed when the case is initiated, or at various stages of the proceeding. The Court may on its own motion enter an order directing that a document, a portion of a document, a party or an entire case be sealed.

(d) Once the Court seals a document, a portion of a document, a party or an entire case, the material shall remain under seal for the duration of the sealing order or until a subsequent order is entered directing that the sealed material be unsealed. A party or third-party seeking unsealing must do so by motion on notice.

(e) Should an application to seal be denied, the documents sought to be sealed will be treated as withdrawn and will not be considered by the Court. The documents will be returned to the party advancing the request. The requesting party shall retain all submitted documents for a period of not less than sixty days after all dates for appellate review have expired.