Government's Opposition To Reporters Committee's Application
Government's Opposition To Reporters Committee's Application
Government's Opposition To Reporters Committee's Application
Alexandria Division
This matter arises out of an unintentional error by the government in a filing in the case
United States v. Seitu Sulayman Kokayi, 1:18mj406, which led to speculation about whether
charges have been filed against Julian Assange, and prompted the application that is currently
before this Court. The government accepts full responsibility for that mistake. Even though that
error may have triggered speculation by the Reporters Committee, the plaintiff’s application lacks
merit and should be denied in light of established law and precedent. While the government
has admitted that the aforementioned court filing was made in error, it has not confirmed or denied
whether charges against Julian Assange exist, which is what the plaintiff seeks to learn through its
application. Neither the First Amendment nor the common law require that the government
In our system, if a person is publicly charged with a crime, the charges and relevant case-
related filings are publicly available through the clerk’s office. Generally, if the public court
record/docket does not contain charges against a particular individual, there are two
possibilities: 1) the person is not charged; or 2) the person is charged under seal. In either event,
the government is not required to publicly acknowledge which of those two possibilities happens
1
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 2 of 13 PageID# 41
to be the case with respect to any individual. Because that is precisely what the plaintiff’s
Argument
I. The First Amendment Does Not Require the Government to
Confirm or Deny the Existence of a Criminal Charge Before an Arrest.
The First Amendment does not require the government to confirm or deny the existence of
criminal charges in this case. “The test for determining whether a First Amendment right of access
is available is: 1) ‘whether the place and process have historically been open to the press and
general public,’ and 2) ‘whether public access plays a significant positive role in the functioning
of the particular process in question.’” Baltimore Sun Co. v. Goetz, 886 F.2d 60, 64 (4th Cir. 1989)
(quoting Press–Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, 478 U.S. 1, 8–10 (1986) (Press–Enterprise II )).
“Precedent makes clear that both the experience and logic prongs are required” for a First
Amendment right of access to attach. See In re U.S. for an Order Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section
2703(d), 707 F.3d 283, 291 (4th Cir. 2013) (“WikiLeaks Sealing Litig.”); (citing Goetz, 886 F.2d
“In the first inquiry, the court asks whether the type of proceeding at issue has traditionally
been conducted in an open fashion. In the second inquiry, the court asks whether public access to
the proceeding would tend to operate as a curb on prosecutorial or judicial misconduct and would
further the public’s interest in understanding the criminal justice system.” In re Wash. Post Co.,
807 F.2d 383, 389 (4th Cir. 1986). Consideration of the history and value of public access to a
particular type of document must necessarily consider the stage at which public access is sought.
See Times Mirror Co. v. United States, 873 F.2d 1210, 1218 (9th Cir. 1989) (“We find no history
of openness at this stage in the warrant proceedings which might argue in favor of a
2
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 3 of 13 PageID# 42
Here, the First Amendment does not require the government to disclose publicly whether
it has charged a person before an arrest. Any contrary rule would completely undermine the proper
functioning of the criminal process at this stage: anyone could petition the Court to require the
government to confirm whether the time was right to flee or evade arrest. Thus, the federal and
local rules specifically reflect a longstanding, and contrary, historic tradition of protecting the
secrecy of grand jury proceedings and permitting courts to seal judicial records before a defendant
is under supervision of the Court. See United States v. Sells Eng’g, Inc., 463 U.S. 418, 425 (1983)
(Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure “codifies the traditional rule of grand jury
secrecy”); United States v. Procter & Gamble Co., 356 U.S. 677, 681 n.6 (1958) (one of the chief
purposes of grand jury secrecy is “[t]o prevent the escape of those whose indictment may be
contemplated”). See also Fed.R.Cr.P. 6(e)(4-6) (permitting courts to seal indictments until the
defendant is in custody or has been released pending trial, to close hearings to prevent disclosure
of a matter occurring before a grand jury, and to seal records, orders, and subpoenas relating to
grand-jury proceedings to the extent and as long as necessary to prevent the unauthorized
disclosure of a matter occurring before a grand jury); E.D.Va. Local Criminal Rule 49(B)
(permitting the court to seal search warrants, arrest warrants, complaints, affidavits, or indictments
upon a proper showing by the government); United States v. Southland Corp., 760 F.2d 1366,
1379-80 (2d Cir. 1985) (explaining that Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e)(4) reflects
historical practice).
It stands to reason that if there is no historic right of access to pre-arrest proceedings and
judicial records, there likewise exists no historic right to require the government to confirm
whether any such proceeding has occurred and whether any such records exist. The Reporters
Committee filing proves this exact point. It does not cite a single case in which the government
3
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 4 of 13 PageID# 43
was ordered to confirm or deny the existence of charges in this context. Instead, every case cited
by the Reporters Committee involves civil litigation or post-arrest criminal litigation. 1 This lack
of precedent underscores the lack of any history or tradition of pre-arrest access. See WikiLeaks
Sealing Litig., 707 F.3d at 295 (“[W]e have never held, nor has any other federal court determined,
into these uncharted waters.”). Since there is no history or tradition of pre-arrest disclosure of the
existence or nonexistence of charges, the Court should reject the Reporters Committee’s First
The Reporters Committee’s request also fails the second prong of the test because it cannot
show that “public access plays a significant positive role in the functioning of the particular process
in question.” Press–Enterprise II, 478 U.S. at 8. In this case, the Court could only define the
“particular process in question” as “grand jury investigations at a stage where no arrests have been
made.” The Fourth Circuit, applying Press–Enterprise II, has repeatedly held that public access
1 See, e.g. United States v. Smith, 776 F.2d 1104 (3d Cir. 1985) (denying press motion to
unseal bill of particulars filed in trial of charged and arrested defendants because the bill of
particulars identified unindicted co-conspirators); United States v. Anderson, 799 F.2d 1438 (11th
Cir. 1986) (same); Virginia Dep't of State Police v. Washington Post, 386 F.3d 567, 570 (4th Cir.
2004) (affirming in part unsealing of documents produced in civil suit related to decades-old
criminal investigation); United States v. Graham, 257 F.3d 143, 145 (2d Cir. 2001) (affirming
order unsealing audio and video tapes presented at pretrial detention hearing); Matter of
Application & Affidavit for a Search Warrant, 923 F.2d 324, 325 (4th Cir. 1991) (upholding order
to unseal search warrant affidavit after the defendant’s arrest); Washington Post v. Robinson, 935
F.2d 282, 292 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (reversing order to seal plea agreement); Stone v. Univ. of Maryland
Med. Sys. Corp., 855 F.2d 178, 179-80 (4th Cir. 1988) (remanding to reconsider “order sealing the
entire record” in a civil case); In re Knight Pub. Co., 743 F.2d 231, 232 (4th Cir. 1984) (holding
that district court erred in closing courtroom in criminal case without considering alternatives);
Application of The Herald Co., 734 F.2d 93, 94 (2d Cir. 1984) (remanding for further consideration
of whether the court could be closed during a hearing on a motion to suppress); United States v.
Giordano, 158 F. Supp. 2d 242, 244 (D. Conn. 2001) (denying press motion to unseal complaint
and affidavit even after the defendant had been arrested); Level 3 Commc’ns, LLC v. Limelight
Networks, Inc., 611 F. Supp. 2d 572 (E.D. Va. 2009) (denying motion to seal documents that were
admitted into evidence during a civil trial).
4
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 5 of 13 PageID# 44
does not play a significant positive role in the functioning of ongoing investigations. See
WikiLeaks Sealing Litig., 707 F.3d at 292 (“[O]penness . . . does not play a significant role in the
functioning of investigations.”); Goetz, 886 F.2d at 64-65 (“[W]e hold that the press does not have
a First Amendment right of access to an affidavit for a search warrant.”). Similarly, here, forcing
the government to reveal whether charges exists would not have a “significant positive role in the
The Reporters Committee, however, advocates that Press–Enterprise II’s second prong
counsels in favor of access to charging documents because “[s]uch information ‘is essential to an
understanding of the trial, essential to an evaluation of the performance of counsel and the court,
and, most importantly, essential to an appraisal of the fairness of the criminal process to the
accused.’” Reporters Committee Application (“App.”) 8 (quoting United States v. Smith, 776 F.2d
1104, 1112 (3d Cir. 1985)). But it is undisputed that a First Amendment right of access attaches
to indictments after an arrest has been made and adversarial litigation has begun. Before that time,
however, it is too soon to “understand[] … the trial,” “evaluat[e] … the performance of counsel
and the court,” or “apprais[e] … the fairness of the criminal process to the accused.” Id.; see also
Times Mirror Co., 873 F.2d at 1217–18 (“We see no justification for opening warrant materials
simply because those materials at some point may become the subject of a suppression hearing
. . . . While warrant materials may, in due course, be disclosed to a defendant so she can challenge
the constitutionality of the search at a suppression hearing to which the public has a
First Amendment right of access, it does not follow that the public should necessarily have access
to the information before that time”); Matter of Search of 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee, No. 96-
91M, 1996 WL 768293, at *9 (D. Del. Oct. 11, 1996), report and recommendation adopted, 958
F. Supp. 205 (D. Del.) (“Since no criminal complaint has been filed nor any indictment issued,
5
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 6 of 13 PageID# 45
decisions have not been rendered that affect the rights of a defendant. Placing these documents in
the public domain at this time will not assist in providing a meaningful evaluation of . . . the
judicial process”).
Put another way, because “the right of access to documents” is “a necessary corollary of
the capacity to attend the relevant proceedings,” Doe v. Pub. Citizen, 749 F.3d 246, 267 (4th Cir.
2014) (quotations omitted), there can be no right to confirm the existence of any charges prior to
arrest where there is no accompanying right to attend any proceedings. If any defendant is charged,
the propriety of pre-arrest sealing is appropriately litigated after an arrest has been made. See
United States v. Srulowitz, 819 F.2d 37, 41 (2d Cir. 1987) (“[A] defendant’s right to challenge the
propriety of the sealing is fully protected by affording him the right to a hearing after the
Finally, the Reporters Committee’s relies heavily on the truism that “[c]ourts ‘do not have
the power’ to make what has become public private again.’” App. at 10 (quoting Gambale v.
Deutsche Bank AG, 377 F.3d 133, 144 (2d Cir. 2004)). But the government is not asking the Court
to reseal a document, such as the Kokayi sealing order, that already has been made public. Rather,
seeking the disclosure of any “sealed court records — including the docket and any criminal
Committee made this request because it hopes to obtain information that is not currently
public. The media report upon which the Reporters Committee relies underscores the fact that the
information it is seeking — whether Assange has been charged, and if so, the nature of the charges
— is not public. That media report quoted an attorney for Mr. Assange as stating that “[o]bviously,
I have no idea if he has actually been charged or for what.” Matt Zapotosky & Devlin Barrett,
6
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 7 of 13 PageID# 46
Julian Assange Has Been Charged, Prosecutors Reveal Inadvertently in Court Filing, Wash. Post
Moreover, the Deutsche Bank decision, upon which the Reporters Committee relies, cuts
against its application. There, the district court had referenced the parties’ “multi-million dollar
settlement” in an unsealing order and the parties had disclosed the actual settlement figure at a
sealed conference. Deutsche Bank, 377 F.3d at 137. While the Second Circuit noted that it had
no ability to make confidential the unsealing order, which had already been widely disseminated,
it nonetheless ordered that the transcript of the conference remain sealed “unless all confidential
Similarly here, an erroneous prior filing and press reports do not justify requiring the
government to disclose additional information. See WikiLeaks Sealing Litig., 707 F.3d at 294
(holding that the government’s “disclosure of the existence of its investigation” does not
undermine its interest in confidentiality of “sensitive nonpublic facts, including the identity of
targets and witnesses in an ongoing criminal investigation.”); El-Masri v. United States, 479 F.3d
296, 311 n.5 (4th Cir. 2007) (“By no means do we endorse El-Masri’s theory that publicly reported
information concerning his alleged rendition is ineligible for protection under the state secrets
doctrine simply because it has been published in the news media,” but finding no need to address
it squarely); Afshar v. Dep’t of State, 702 F.2d 1125, 1130 (D.C. Cir. 1983) (“[E]ven if a fact …
is the subject of widespread media and public speculation, its official acknowledgment by an
authoritative source might well be new information that could cause damage to the national
security.”); Klayman v. CIA, 170 F. Supp. 3d 114, 123–24 (D.D.C. 2016) (finding that press reports
do not constitute official acknowledgements by an agency and do not preclude an agency from
making a “Glomar” response to a Freedom of Information Act request, reasoning in part, that even
7
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 8 of 13 PageID# 47
references to statements purportedly made by anonymous “current and former officials” do not
suffice to show official acknowledgement) (citations omitted); United States v. Smith, 985 F. Supp.
2d 506, 533 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) (“[E]ven if there were press reports suggesting the identity of the
cooperating witness, and even if those reports prove to be accurate, that is not the functional
equivalent of officially acknowledging the cooperating witness, let alone the information that the
witness has provided”) (citing press report about an ongoing investigation that proved to be
inaccurate); cf. Wilson v. CIA, 586 F.3d 171, 186 (2d Cir. 2009) (noting that under the Freedom of
Information Act, “the law will not infer official disclosure of information classified by the CIA
presumption can be rebutted if the public's right of access is outweighed by competing interests.”
WikiLeaks Sealing Litig., 707 F.3d at 290 (citations and quotations omitted). 2 The Reporters
Committee seeks a right of access to any “sealed court records—including the docket and any
criminal complaint, indictment, or other charging document.” App. at 1, 7. But this is simply
another request for the government to confirm or deny the existence of a charge since a docket or
records in the Assange prosecution would only exist if there were a charge.
The Fourth Circuit has previously rejected a similar request to gain access to a docket at a
pre-arrest stage of an ongoing grand jury investigation. See WikiLeaks Sealing Litig., 707 F.3d at
2Similarly, if the Court disagrees and finds a First Amendment right of access, that right
“is not absolute.” Press Enterprise II, 478 U.S. at 9. Rather, it simply creates a “presumption of
openness” to the particular document or proceeding that may be overcome “by an overriding
interest based on findings that closure is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored
to serve that interest.” Press-Enter. Co. v. Superior Court of California, Riverside Cty., 464 U.S.
501, 509–10 (1984) (Press Enterprise I) (quotations omitted).
8
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 9 of 13 PageID# 48
295 (“[W]e have never held, nor has any other federal court determined, that pre-indictment
investigative matters such as § 2703(d) orders, pen registers, and wiretaps, which are all akin to
grand jury investigations, must be publicly docketed.”); In re Sealed Case, 199 F.3d 522, 525
(D.C. Cir. 2000) (citing federal public docketing cases and noting that none has required such in
This makes sense because at the pre-arrest stage, under longstanding rules and practice,
courts properly and routinely balance the government’s interests against the public’s right of access
ex parte—not in public, as the Reporters Committee seeks here. Until the government has
confirmed or denied the existence of charges, granting the Reporters Committee request would
undermine the very reasons those rules exist: to prevent putative targets from prematurely learning
about charges, averting arrest, and destroying evidence. As noted above, Federal Rule of Criminal
Procedure 6(e)(4) provides that “[t]he magistrate judge to whom an indictment is returned may
direct that the indictment be kept secret until the defendant is in custody or has been released
The Fourth Circuit has read Rule 6(e)(4) broadly to allow a “judicial officer [to] grant the
Government’s motion to seal [an indictment] for any legitimate prosecutorial need,” including, but
3 The clerk’s office docketing procedures satisfy public notice requirements. If a complaint or
indictment is filed under seal, the clerk’s office assigns the matter an “MJ” or “CR” number, and
publicly dockets the matter with the following notation: “This case is SEALED.” The Reporters
Committee contends that Local Criminal Rule 49 requires the clerk to give public notice of the
fact that the government has moved to seal an entire case. App. 7 n.1. But any such requirement
at the pre-arrest stage would defeat the purpose of moving to seal an indictment prior to arrest. See
also Local Crim. R. 49(D) (“Any post-arrest motion for a protective order providing prospectively
for filing of documents under seal shall be accompanied by a non-confidential supporting
memorandum, a notice that identifies the motion as a sealing motion, and a proposed order.”)
(emphasis added); Local Crim. R. 49(G) (“A motion to have an entire case kept under seal shall
be subject to the requirements and procedures of sections (D) and (F).”).
9
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 10 of 13 PageID# 49
not limited to, “the need to take the defendant into custody.” United States v. Ramey, 791 F.2d
317, 321 (4th Cir. 1986). See also United States v. Ellis, 622 F.3d 784, 792–93 (7th Cir. 2010)
(“Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e)(4), a district court’s power to seal an indictment
is broad; sealing an indictment is generally permitted when it is in the public interest or serves a
legitimate law-enforcement purpose.”); United States v. DiSalvo, 34 F.3d 1204, 1218 (3d Cir.
1994) (“An indictment may be sealed for any legitimate law enforcement reason or where the
public interest requires it.”); United States v. Lakin, 875 F.2d 168, 171 (8th Cir. 1989) (“[A]
judicial officer may grant the government’s request to seal an indictment for any legitimate
Accordingly, under Rule 6(e)(4), as it has been judicially interpreted, and under its
corollary, Local Rule 49(B), courts routinely balance the common law right of access against the
necessity must be filed and decided ex parte. See WikiLeaks Sealing Litig., 707 F.3d at 294 (to
allow access after a magistrate’s finding that the government’s interests are significantly
countervailing and outweigh the public’s common law presumption of access would be “an
improper means of circumventing the [Stored Communication Act’s] clear assessment that in some
Put simply, at the pre-arrest stage, there can be no common law right to require the
government to publicly confirm whether charges exist because by necessity Rule 6(e)(4)
presupposes that any request and order to seal will remain non-public until a defendant is under
the supervision of the Court. See United States v. Texas, 507 U.S. 529, 534 (1993) (Common law
rights are abrogated where statutes or federal rules “‘speak directly’ to the question addressed by
the common law.”) (quoting Mobil Oil Corp. v. Higginbotham, 436 U.S. 618, 625 (1978)).
10
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 11 of 13 PageID# 50
“[W]hen Congress addresses a question previously governed by . . . federal common law the need
for such an unusual exercise of lawmaking by federal courts disappears.” City of Milwaukee v.
Illinois & Michigan, 451 U.S. 304, 314 (1981). “Legislative displacement of federal common law
does not require the same sort of evidence of a clear and manifest [congressional] purpose
demanded for preemption of state law.” Am. Elec. Power Co. v. Connecticut, 564 U.S. 410, 423–
The test for whether a statute or rule abrogates the common law “is simply whether the
statute speaks directly to the question at issue.” Id. (internal quotations omitted); see also Goetz,
886 F.2d at 65 (recognizing a “common law qualified right of access to … warrant papers” because
“[u]nlike the rule of secrecy that is imposed” under Rule 6(e), “Rule 41(g) is silent about disclosure
of search warrant materials”); cf. Dietz v. Bouldin, 136 S. Ct. 1885, 1892, (2016) (“[T]he exercise
of an inherent power cannot be contrary to any express grant of or limitation on the district court’s
power contained in a rule or statute.”); Carlisle v. United States, 517 U.S. 416, 426 (1996) (same).
In short, while the Reporters Committee Application seeks to challenge any decision to
seal any charges here, because the government has not confirmed or denied any such charges, its
11
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 12 of 13 PageID# 51
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, there is no First Amendment or common law right to require the
government to confirm the existence of charges prior to an arrest. Therefore, the United States
requests that the Court deny the Reporters Committee’s Application to Unseal.
Respectfully submitted,
G. Zachary Terwilliger
United States Attorney
By: /s
Gordon D. Kromberg
Assistant United States Attorney
United States Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Virginia
2100 Jamieson Avenue
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
(703) 299-3700
[email protected]
12
Case 1:18-mc-00037-LMB-JFA Document 7 Filed 11/26/18 Page 13 of 13 PageID# 52
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on this 26th day of November 2018, I electronically filed the
foregoing with the Clerk of Court using the CM/ECF system, which will send a notification of
/s
Gordon D. Kromberg
Assistant United States Attorney
Attorney for the United States of America
United States Attorney’s Building
Justin W. Williams U.S. Attorney’s Building
2100 Jamieson Avenue
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Phone: 703-299-3700
Fax: 703-299-3981
Email Address: gordon.kromberg@@usdoj.gov
13