V § 5 Motion to Seal

If someone asks the court to keep certain documents private, that request (called a motion to seal) is automatically kept private too, along with any documents attached to it. This stays true while the court is still deciding whether to grant the request. Only authorized court staff can look at these sealed materials during this waiting period.

Once the court makes a decision, different things happen depending on the outcome. If the court agrees to seal the documents, the court's written order approving this becomes public record, but the original motion and documents stay sealed and private. If the court denies the request, then the motion and documents become available to the public, unless the court's order specifically allows the person who filed them to take them back instead.

The main point of this rule is to protect sensitive information while the court decides if it truly needs to stay private. It prevents documents from being exposed to the public before a judge has ruled on whether they should be sealed in the first place. This gives people a fair chance to argue for privacy without risking exposure during the process itself.