DOE v. PUBLIC CITIZEN

No. 12-2209.

749 F.3d 246 (2014)

Company DOE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. PUBLIC CITIZEN; Consumer Federation of America; Consumers Union, Parties-in-Interest-Appellants, and Inez Tenenbaum, in her official capacity as Chairwoman the Consumer Product Safety Commission; Consumer Product Safety Commission, Defendants. American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; Aarp; Advance Publications, Incorporated; Bloomberg, Incorporated; Dow Jones and Company, Incorporated; Gannett Company, Incorporated; The New York Times Company; NPR, Incorporated; The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Tribune Company; WP Company LLC, d/b/a The Washington Post, Amici Supporting Appellants, National Association of Manufacturers; The American Coatings Association; The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers; The Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation; The Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association; The Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, Amici Supporting Appellee.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Decided: April 16, 2014.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

ARGUED: Scott Matthew Michelman , Public Citizen Litigation Group, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Baruch Abraham Fellner , Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Allison M. Zieve , Julie A. Murray , Public Citizen Litigation Group, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Thomas M. Johnson, Jr. , Amanda C. Machin , Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. Ben Wizner , Brian M. Hauss , American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, New York, for Amicus Curiae American Civil Liberties Union Foundation. Julie Nepveu , AARP Foundation Litigation, Michael Schuster , AARP, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae AARP. Cary Silverman , Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae National Association of Manufacturers, American Coatings Association, Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association, and Specialty Vehicle Institute of America. Leslie Moylan , Washington, D.C., Robert D. Balin , Edward J. Davis , Eric Feder , Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, New York, New York, for Amici Curiae Media Organizations.

Vacated in part, reversed in part, and remanded with instructions by published opinion. Judge FLOYD wrote the opinion, in which Senior Judge DAVIS joined. Senior Judge HAMILTON wrote a separate opinion concurring in the judgment.


FLOYD, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents numerous issues relating to transparency in federal courts and the public's constitutional and common-law rights of access to judicial records and documents. The plaintiff in the underlying proceedings, known to the public only as "Company Doe," filed suit under the Administrative Procedure Act to enjoin the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (the Commission) from publishing in its online, publicly accessible...

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