HARTFORD, Conn. _ A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a court order issued early this summer that compelled the state judiciary to open courtrooms and unseal the case records of teenagers charged with serious felonies.
The earlier ruling was issued by a federal district court in Hartford in late July for the Hartford Courant in the newspaper's suit challenging the constitutionality of a new state law that it says illegally bars the public from court proceedings.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has temporarily stayed enforcement of order issued July 24 by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea, based on an appeal by the state Judicial Branch of Shea's decision.
The state's appeal and the temporary stay once again closing certain juvenile court proceedings is being referred to a three-judge motion panel of the appeals court, which is likely to decide within a week or two whether to lift the temporary stay or leave in in pace during pendency of the state's appeal.
Shea concluded that the new state law, effective in October 2019, violates First Amendment rights of access to the courts by sealing cases against 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds charged with murder, rape and other serious crimes. The law, the Juvenile Transfer Act, was written to seal records and close courtrooms when the cases against the teens are transferred from juvenile to adult court.
Finding that the newspaper is likely to prevail in a constitutional challenge, Shea ordered the state judiciary to unseal all cases transferred since the law's effective date and to make public all cases transferred to adult court in the future. He postponed parts of the order for a month to give advocates for the teens an opportunity to argue individually against unsealing.
The judiciary unsealed the files in late August, even as it was preparing the appeal and request for a stay.
