Are court records public?

Most court records are public. In Nixon v. Warner Communications (1978) the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that American courts have long allowed a general right to inspect and copy public records, judicial records included. The right is strong but not absolute: a court can seal records, and courts decide that case by case.

FOIA does not reach the courts

The federal Freedom of Information Act applies to federal agencies, and the statute that defines "agency" leaves out the courts of the United States (5 U.S.C. 551(1)(B)). Most state public records laws likewise exclude, or treat separately, the judicial branch. So a FOIA letter to a court is usually the wrong tool. Court records come from the clerk of the court: see how to look up a court case.

A public records request is the right tool for records held by the government around a case: a police department's report, a city's ticket data, a jail's booking records. The request builder writes one.

What is usually not public

• Sealed cases and documents, by court order.
• Juvenile cases, in most states.
• Parts of family, adoption, mental health and some protective order cases.
• Personal identifiers that court rules require to be redacted, such as Social Security numbers, full birth dates and financial account numbers.

Expunged and sealed records

When a record is expunged or sealed under a state's law, the public file is closed or destroyed, and in most states the person may lawfully say the case did not happen for most purposes. Who qualifies, for what, and after how long is set state by state; the state court system's self-help pages or a legal aid office can say what applies.