July 27

Henning: Update on electronic access to court records and District Judge case files

By Teri Henning, General Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

There have been a number of developments in terms of access to court records this year, including advances (and set backs) relating to electronic access. We have reason to cheer, however, about the most recent assistance provided to us from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts: CLICK HERE

Basically, the AOPC has affirmed the principle of open courts to all district judges and has made it clear that they must provide access to their case files. This is a significant development, and we thank the AOPC for its assistance.

First, some background.

Near the end of last year, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) proposed a draft policy on access to electronic case records. The policy would affect Internet access to records held by the county courts of common pleas.

Unfortunately, the policy, as proposed, would restrict access to certain basic, identifying information, including middle initials and birth dates of defendants, witness information and victim information. In other words, newspapers could not obtain full docket information over the Internet.

In November, the PNA and a number of its members filed written comments objecting to the proposed electronic case record policy. In March of this year, we testified against the proposed policy. Unfortunately, many other individuals and organizations testified in favor of even more restricted access to electronic case files (including the ACLU, which argued that pre-conviction records (criminal charges) should not be accessible over the internet).

The AOPC has now issued a proposed electronic case record policy for the consideration and approval of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Although they have not made the proposed policy public, we expect that it will contain many of the same restrictions as the draft policy.

It is important to understand that the electronic case record policy will not and does not affect access to paper court files. There is a strong presumption of access to court records and proceedings, based on both constitutional and common law principles. The electronic case record policy cannot change that, and reporters will continue to be able to access court records at the individual courthouses.

Apparently, however, certain magisterial district judges were getting confused on that point. We started hearing from our members that some district judges were selectively redacting large portions of paper court records, including addresses, witness names and even criminal defendant information.

We contacted the AOPC to address this situation and are very happy to report that they responded quickly. On June 26, 2006, the AOPC issued a memo to all district judges affirming the presumption of access to court records and making it clear that district judges do not have the authority to redact these files, absent specific statutory authority or an order to seal issued from a higher court.

Reporters should keep a copy of this letter and take it to any district judge who inappropriately denies access to court records.

Please contact Teri Henning, PNA’s general counsel, at (717) 703-3076 or terih@pa-news.org if you have any questions about this issue or if you continue to have any access problems with district judges.

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