Dockets, filings, and court records

Sealed Document

A sealed document is a filing the court has ordered kept out of public view, so it appears on the docket but cannot be opened by the public.

Courts seal filings to protect cooperating witnesses, trade secrets, medical records, the identities of minors, and ongoing investigations. Sealing is supposed to be the exception: the public has a presumptive right of access to court records, so a party usually has to move to seal and explain why nothing less restrictive will do.

You will still see the entry. The docket text may be generic, the document link may be missing or return an error, and sometimes a redacted public version is filed alongside the sealed original. A case that is sealed in its entirety may not appear in search results at all.

Sealing is rarely permanent. Cases end, investigations close, and parties or the press can move to unseal, so a document that is unavailable today may become public later. If a filing you need is sealed, the docket text and any public redacted version are usually the best available substitute.