IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
IN RE: AVAILABILITY OF TRANSCRIPTS OF ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER 404
COURT PROCEEDINGS
This order establishes policies and procedures regarding the availability of transcripts of
court proceedings.
GENERAL POLICY
Court proceedings are, with rare exceptions, open to the public, and thus transcripts of
court proceedings will be available to the public, except as provided in this order.
Certain personal identifying information (including, among other things, social security
numbers, financial account numbers, birth dates, and the names of minors) is to be redacted
from the transcript of any court proceeding, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2
and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49.1. Neither the clerk’s office nor the court reporter
will review transcripts for compliance with these rules. Each party is solely responsible for
reviewing the testimony of the witnesses it called and its own statements in court.
For 90 days after a transcript of a court proceeding is filed on the docket, the transcript
will be sealed and available only to the court, users of public terminals in the clerk’s office, and
those who have purchased the transcript from the court reporter. After 90 days, the transcript
will be unsealed and the entire transcript will be made available to the public—unless a party
has requested redaction of personal data identifiers, or the court has granted a motion for
additional redaction.
If a non-party orders a transcript before the transcript is available to the public, the
non-party must pay for the transcript, which the court reporter will then prepare and file on
the case docket. If any request for redaction is pending at the time the transcript is filed, the
non-party will not have access to the transcript until the pending redaction requests have been
decided.
REDACTION PROCEDURES
Litigants and counsel are encouraged to request redaction or sealing during the
proceeding so that the appropriate portions of the transcript may be immediately redacted or
sealed. If the court grants the request on the record, the court reporter will prepare both a
redacted version and an unredacted version of the transcript. No further request for redaction
or sealing is required.
Requests made after the conclusion of the proceeding must follow these procedures.
To request redaction of personal identifying information: Within seven calendar
days of the filing of a transcript, a party must inform the court of its intent to request redaction
by filing a Notice of Intent to Request Redaction. If no such notice is filed, the court will
assume the transcript does not contain prohibited personally identifying information.
If a party files a Notice of Intent to Request Redaction within the allotted time, the
party must then file a Statement of Requested Redactions indicating, by page and line, where
the personal data identifiers appear in the transcript. The Statement of Requested Redactions
is due within 21 days of the filing of the transcript. Personal identifying information will be
redacted without further order from the court.
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To request additional redactions: If a party wishes to seal a portion of a transcript
for any other reason, the party must file a Motion Requesting Additional Redactions within 21
days of the date of filing of the transcript. The motion must: (1) provide good cause for the
request; (2) cite the specific pages and lines to be sealed; and (3) provide a redacted version of
the transcript that would be available to the public. The motion itself will be sealed without
further court order so that access to the motion and the transcript will be restricted to the court
and case participants. The presiding judge will decide the motion and the transcript will be
sealed or redacted accordingly.
Relief from these policies and procedures may be allowed by the presiding judge on a
showing of good cause.
Please direct questions about this policy to the clerk’s office: (608) 264-5156.
Entered April 4, 2023.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
_______________________________________
JAMES D. PETERSON
Chief District Judge
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