United States v. McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

Petition for Writ of Mandamus from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Lawrence K. Karlton, District Judge, Presiding

Appellant McClatchy Newspapers, Inc., dba The Sacramento Bee (“The Bee’’), a non-party in interest to the underlying criminal proceeding, seeks a writ of mandamus to reverse the final post-judgment order entered by the district court in response to The Bee’s request that the district court unseal three documents relating to a 1994 Fed. R.Crim. Proc. 35 motion that it had informally sealed. We grant the writ, vacate the order, and remand the case to the district court to make factual findings in consideration of whether privacy interests alone justify the redactions.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

At a hearing on December 7, 1999, the district court ordered that one of the three documents be unsealed in its entirety and that the other two documents be unsealed after the names of certain individuals were redacted. These latter two documents are proffer letters that defendant Mark Nathanson submitted to the government demonstrating his alleged cooperation with and assistance to the government. Nathanson attached these…