Pizzagate relevant due to the hopes we have that these federal indictments include child traffickers.

The sealing of indictments in federal courts is common, if not a frequent procedure. The Rules of Civil Procedure, specifically Rule 6 on sealing and the decisions of federal courts of appeals are vague. Thousands of federal court cases are being kept secret. There has been a sharp increase in secret case files ever since the Bush administrations well-documented reliance on secrecy in the excecutive branch has crept into the federal courts through the war on drugs, anti-terrorism efforts, and other criminal matters.

There are 4 basic types of sealed indictments in district court - civil, criminal, magistrate judge, and miscellaneous. There are 4 other classifications in 4 other categories - grand jury matters, seizures and forfeitures, cases involving minors, and others.

In criminal cases, some sealed indictments remain sealed even after a case is dismissed because the defendant(s) never appeared in the sealed cases and no one asked the court to unseal them. Some prosecutions of cooperators may remain sealed even after the reason for sealing expires.

The public challenging of sealed indictments is difficult, and more likely impossible. If a case is sealed automatically or as a result of a request to seal made at filing, there will almost never be an opportunity for public challenge because there will be no public record of the case.

The decision to seal implicates important rights. The 6th Amendment right to a speedy and public trial can be compromised by delay and secrecy. Sealed federal criminal indictments have in fact been dismissed because the delay caused by sealing denied the defendant his/her speedy trial right. There are shocking cases of sealing practice gone awry.

Realization of the objectives endorsed by Rule 6 rests on the district judges. An excellent study done by 2 Federal Judicial Center individuals on sealed cases in federal court ends with these words in its summary:

"The common urge is to have the intolerably behaving individual out of the way, to be reassured that the behavior need not have occurred. Interest in the criminal from there on as an individual, tends to be at a minimum."

We will not give up hope. Goodness will overcome evil. Godspeed President Trump.

The New Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NJZyJv3XrkYDe_JbzksLXqtwrxW4JHM1/view?usp=drivesdk

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/635189429/Thousands-of-federal-court-cases-are-being-kept-secret.html

Secret Indictments - How to Discourage Them: How to Make Them Fair https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ze-w1OiHOWYzkFPLCE8gv4tTvr6ubWcl/view?usp=drivesdk

Sealed Cases in Federal Courts https://drive.google.com/file/d/19_gb647KLj83-sSDSBeBFf7PdaPLso1W/view?usp=drivesdk