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Old habits die hard when it comes to access
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After The Daily Record studied access to court records, we spoke with various court officials about our results. In the cases where we had experienced treatment or policies the officials found objectionable, they assured us these things would not happen again.
The best example of this was our conversation with Chief District Court Judge Ben Clyburn, who told us he was doing away with the per-day file limits imposed by many district court locations.
It may be a little early for everyone to have gotten the message yet, though. Sun cops reporter Justin Fenton just tweeted to let me know that the Eastside District Court just tried to tell him he could only see three files a day.
Fenton protested that this isn’t district court policy, and the counter clerk on duty made a phone call and gave in. As of now, he’s waiting to see the seven files he requested.
I’m willing to give the courts the benefit of the doubt while they get up to speed with Clyburn’s new policy. Old habits die hard. But I would be curious to hear from others who frequently request files from court clerks — lawyers, reporters, community activists. Are you seeing changes yet in the number of cases you can see, the process for requesting them or the treatment you’re getting from clerks?
