Many sealed civil cases are qui tam actions, almost always filed under the False Claims Act, which requires the case to be sealed until the government decides whether to intervene. Docket entries to which we have access usually make such cases readily apparent. We confirmed with the clerks whether sealed civil cases were in this category, and then we wrote to the presiding judges to inquire (1) if the cases were still pending and awaiting decisions by the government whether to intervene, and (2) if not, why the cases were still sealed.
Using docket information and clerk inquiries, we also were able to classify sealed civil cases into four other categories: grand jury matters, seizures and forfeitures, cases involving minors, and others. For cases in the last category, we wrote to the presiding judges to inquire why, in gen- eral terms, the cases were sealed. If we did not hear from a judge within several weeks, we followed up with a telephone call to the judge's chambers.
Using docket information and clerk inquiries, we classified sealed criminal cases into four categories: cases in which the defendants had not yet appeared, which generally were sealed so as not to tip off the defendants until their apprehension; cases dismissed or transferred before the defendants appeared; juvenile defendants; and other cases. We wrote to judges presiding over cases in the last category to inquire why the cases were sealed, following up with telephone calls to their chambers if necessary. A large majority of these cases had cooperating defendants; the cases are typically sealed either to avoid tipping off other potential defendants or to protect the cooperators' safety.
