ANNOUNCEMENTS
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March 8, 2008
Strategic Planning Committee Follow-up
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January 22, 2008
Judicial Conference Policy with Regard to the Availability of Transcripts of Court Proceedings
Effective January 24, 2008, the District of Maine, in accordance with Judicial Conference
Policy and amendments to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 and Federal Rule of
Criminal Procedure 49.1 will implement the following policy regarding official court
transcripts:
1. A transcript provided to the court by a court reporter or transcriber will be
available at the Clerk’s Office, for inspection only, for a period of 90 days after it
is filed.
2. During the 90-day period, a copy of the transcript may be obtained from the court reporter or transcriber at the rate established by the Judicial Conference. The transcript will be available at the public terminal at the Courthouse and remotely
electronically available to any attorneys of record who have purchased a copy from the court reporter.
3. After the 90-day period has ended, the transcript will be available for copying in
the Clerk’s Office and for download through PACER.
Note: This policy applies to transcripts of events taking place in the court’s courtrooms,
not depositions taken outside of court or proceedings of state courts or other jurisdictions.
This policy establishes a procedure for counsel to request the redaction from the
transcript of specific personal data identifiers before the transcript is made electronically
available to the general public.
Counsel are strongly urged to share this notice with their clients so that an informed
decision about the inclusion of certain materials may be made. The responsibility for
redacting personal identifiers rests solely with counsel and the parties. Neither the
Clerk nor the Court Reporter will review transcripts for compliance with this policy.
Notice of Intent to Redact:
Within five (5) business days of the filing of an official court transcript, each party
wishing to redact a transcript must inform the court by filing a Notice of Intent to Redact
(form available here).
Redaction Request:
If a redaction is requested, counsel must submit to the court reporter a Redaction
Request (form available here) within 21 days from the filing of the transcript,
indicating where the personal identifiers appear in the transcript by page and line and
how they are to be redacted.
Note: This procedure is limited to the redaction of the specific personal data identifiers
listed below:
• social security numbers to the last four digits;
• financial account numbers to the last four digits;
• dates of birth to the year;
• names of minor children to the initials; and
• home addresses to the city and state.
If an attorney files a Notice of Intent to Redact but fails to timely file a Redaction
Request or Motion to Extend Time, no redactions will be made and the original transcript
will be remotely publicly available after 90 days.
Requests for Additional Redactions:
If counsel would like to request further redactions, in addition to those personal
identifiers listed above, counsel must move the Court by filing a separate Motion for
Redaction of Electronic Transcript. Until the Court has ruled on any such motion, the
transcript will not be electronically available, even if the 90-day restriction period has
ended.
Remote Public Access to Transcripts:
If a redacted transcript is filed with the Court, that redacted transcript will be remotely
electronically available through PACER after 90 calendar days from the date of filing of
the original transcript and the original transcript will never be made publicly available. If
the original transcript is filed without redaction, that original transcript will be remotely
electronically available through PACER after 90 calendar days.
CJA Panel Attorneys:
An attorney who is serving as appointed “standby” counsel for a pro se litigant must
review the transcript as if the pro se party were his/her client. If an attorney represents a
client pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act (CJA), including serving as standby counsel,
the attorney conducting the review of the transcript is entitled to compensation under the
CJA for functions reasonably performed to fulfill the obligation and for reimbursement of
related reasonable expenses.
PACER Fees:
PACER fees will be applied both during and after the 90-day restriction period. Charges
will not be capped at 30 pages as they are for other court documents, but will rather
accrue for the entire transcript. The user will incur PACER charges for each time the
transcript is accessed even though he/she may have purchased it from the court reporter
and obtained remote access through CM/ECF. There is no “free look” for transcripts.
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January 4, 2008
U.S. District Court, District of Maine Practice
with Respect to Sealed Filings
In General
In both civil and criminal actions, cases may be sealed in their entirety, or only as to certain documents. Sealing may be required when a case is initiated or at various times during the proceedings. Cases and documents can only be sealed by statute, local rule, or an order of the court. A sealed case or document cannot be examined except by order of the court, or by certain judicial employees.*
Criminal
In a criminal case which is not sealed in its entirety, when an individual document is sealed neither the docket entry nor the document is available to be examined by the public without a court order. Examples of this might include: Motions to Seal, Sealed Plea Agreements, Petitions to Revoke Supervised Release prior to arrest, Arrest Warrants prior to arrest
Civil
In a civil case which is not sealed in its entirety, when an individual document is sealed the docket entry remains publicly available. However, the sealed document itself is not available to be examined by the public except by court order. Examples of this might include: Motion to Seal, Unredacted Documents
*Judicial Employees with access to sealed documents include the Clerk of Court, Chief Deputy, Divisional Manager, Information Systems Analyst, Case Managers, Chambers Staff and Probation Officers.
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