Thirty years ago the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling holding that the First Amendment afforded the public a constitutional right of access to criminal trials. Coming just six years after post-Watergate amendments to the Freedom of Information Act dramatically expanded public access to government documents, the Supreme Court’s decision opened the door to a judicial assault on secret government proceedings. Reflecting the optimism of the time, I published a law review article in 1984 predicting the newly minted right of access would reach one of the most sacrosanct of closed proceedings: disciplinary proceedings against judges.1
Funny thing, the revolution never came. The Supreme Court has yet to consider whether the First Amendment right of access extends to any type of government proceeding other than criminal trials and related proceedings. And though every circuit to have addressed the issue has held the right applies to civil trials, the Courts of Appeals had, with the exception of a single type of administrative proceeding, never considered whether the right extends beyond traditional court proceedings.
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