A Mysterious Lawsuit Is Raising Concerns Over The Public’s Right To See Court Records 1 Among other weird legal twists, the judge in the case slapped a gag order on the attorney trying to get the records unsealed.
In an unusual example of government censorship, a state court judge has issued a gag order preventing a public interest lawyer from sharing details of a case that the lawyer says the judge improperly sealed.
Now Hawaii Circuit Judge Gary Chang is being called before the Hawaii Supreme Court to defend not just the gag order, but other aspects of how he managed the case and why he kept it secret. That includes why he permanently removed the original complaint from the case file and sent it back to the plaintiff after the case settled, at the plaintiff’s request.
The case pits Chang against Brian Black, executive director of The Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest, a public interest law firm that seeks to promote transparency in government.
