January 18 2022
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA
IN RE:
STANDING ORDER NO. BMM-17
UNSEALING OF COURT RECORDS
This Order modifies and supersedes Standing Order No. DLC-52 for the
United States District Court for the District of Montana, entered January 23, 2020.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that sealed case files shall be presumptively
considered suitable for unsealing after the case file has been closed for a period of
three years or more. Such case files shall be unsealed unless the parties are able to
show cause why the case file should be sealed permanently, or for some lesser
fixed period. The following cases/matters shall be excluded from this Order:
1. Criminal cases involving a juvenile defendant
2. Cases containing tax return information, including the identity of
taxpayers;
3. All grand jury proceedings;
4. All miscellaneous criminal matters including requests for pen
registers, trap and trace devices, tracking devices, wire taps, the
disclosure of IRS tax returns, and/or the appointment of an attorney
pre-indictment;
5. All attorney discipline or CJA billing matters.
To effectuate this order, the clerk of this court shall, on an annual basis,
compile a report of all sealed cases that have been closed for a period of three
years or longer, excluding those cases set forth above. As to each such case, the
clerk shall notify the parties that the case will be unsealed unless one or more of
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the parties is able to show cause why the case file should be sealed permanently, or
for some lesser fixed period. The parties shall have no fewer than 21 days from the
date of the clerk’s notice in which to respond and show cause.
Attempts to show cause why a case file should remain sealed shall be
considered and resolved via written order by the presiding judge or, in the event
the presiding judge is no longer serving on the court, by the chief judge or his or
her designee. In the absence of a timely response to the clerk’s notice, the clerk
shall unseal the case in question pursuant to this order.
At the conclusion of the annual review process, the clerk shall make a report
to the court of all cases unsealed pursuant to this order.
The clerk of court is directed to post this order on the court’s public website,
and to notify the judicial officers of this district and the Local Rules Committee of
the entry of this order.
DATED this 18th day of January, 2022.
_____________________________
Brian Morris, Chief Judge
United States District Court
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