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Are US Courts 'Going Dark'? (justsecurity.org)
An anonymous reader writes: Judge Stephen Wm. Smith argues that questions about the government's "golden age of surveillance" miss an equally significant trend: that the U.S. Courts are "going dark". In a new editorial, he writes that "Before the digital age, executed search warrants were routinely placed on the court docket available for public inspection," but after the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, more than 30,000 secret court surveillance orders were given just in 2006. He predicts that today's figure is more than double, "And those figures do not include surveillance orders obtained by state and local authorities, who handle more than 15 times the number of felony investigations that the feds do. Based on that ratio, the annual rate of secret surveillance orders by federal and state courts combined could easily exceed half a million."
Judge Smith also cites an increase in cases -- even civil cases -- that are completely sealed, but also an increase in "private arbitration" and other ways of resolving disputes which are shielded from the public eye. "Employers, Internet service providers, and consumer lenders have led a mass exodus from the court system. By the click of a mouse or tick of a box, the American public is constantly inveigled to divert the enforcement of its legal rights to venues closed off from public scrutiny. Justice is becoming privatized, like so many other formerly public goods turned over to invisible hands -- electricity, water, education, prisons, highways, the military."
The judge's conclusion? "Over the last 40 years, secrecy in all aspects of the judicial process has risen to literally unprecedented levels. "
Judge Smith also cites an increase in cases -- even civil cases -- that are completely sealed, but also an increase in "private arbitration" and other ways of resolving disputes which are shielded from the public eye. "Employers, Internet service providers, and consumer lenders have led a mass exodus from the court system. By the click of a mouse or tick of a box, the American public is constantly inveigled to divert the enforcement of its legal rights to venues closed off from public scrutiny. Justice is becoming privatized, like so many other formerly public goods turned over to invisible hands -- electricity, water, education, prisons, highways, the military."
The judge's conclusion? "Over the last 40 years, secrecy in all aspects of the judicial process has risen to literally unprecedented levels. "
Currently, I am on the receiving end of what I consider to a nuisance lawsuit. Someone went to the same school years ago as I was working on a graduate degree became upset because I called him an "ass", "fool", and an "embarrassment" when he set up a conference where he invites a speaker who was expressing that society had a runaway problem with witches.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/287...
The complaint is a train wreck, and I made a point of publishing it in several locations. The plaintiff had a fit and has been attempting to have them taken down. Fortunately, these are public documents and he has had limited success in these efforts. The amended complaint was served to me almost a year ago, and it quickly became clear that the plaintiff does not want the case to go to any type of decision, instead he is delaying over and over again (still waiting to hearing on a motion to dismiss submitted 10 months ago).
While I would love to have my day in court so that this mess can finally be put to bed, I do find some comfort while I wait to be able to show others the details of the 'claims' being made against me (and the school, plus a dozen or so other individuals).