Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Sentencing Law and Policy

Criminal Law

: Sentencing Law and Policy

Should all federal plea agreements be generally available on-line?

By Douglas A. Berman

I just saw this fascinating article from The National Law Journal, headlined "Federal judge defies DOJ wishes, orders all plea agreements to be posted online."  Here is how it starts: Chief Judge Federico Moreno of the Southern District of Florida, bucking the wishes of the U.S. Department of Justice, has ordered all plea agreements to be posted online. In an order issued on Jan. 22, Moreno stated that as of Feb. 20, all plea agreements "will be public documents, with full remote access available to all members of the public and the bar, unless the Court has entered an order in advance directing the sealing or otherwise restricting a plea agreement." Moreno's order rescinds a previous order of April 2007 taking all plea agreements offline and making them accessible for physical viewing only at the courthouse...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 02, 2009 (boomark / email).