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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3861 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 20, 2022

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Like I mentioned in another comment, I'm playing historian. In my research I saw some articles mentioning a court case that I'd love to look into. I have the approximate date, the court it has been brought to, the names of (some of) the defendants, and I can take a good stab at the name of the plaintiff. Basic google-fu has failed me so far. Are historical (well sort of, we're talking about the 70's) court documents public in the US? If so how would I go about getting them (I don't care if it involves fees)?

Judicial records are open to public scrutiny unless the parties can convince the judge to "seal" those records (barring some exceptions that vary by state—juvenile prosecutions, names of children involved in divorce proceedings, name-change requests, names of rape victims, etc.). I assume you can just submit a records request to the court, possibly under the state's FOIA equivalent.

Thanks! I'll try that.

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