A motion to seal court records is a formal request asking a judge to restrict public access to specific documents or information filed in a case. U.S. courts start from a strong presumption that judicial records are open, grounded in both common law tradition and the First Amendment, so sealing is the exception. A judge will grant it only when the party asking can show that a specific, concrete harm from disclosure outweighs the public’s interest in seeing what the court is doing.
What Sealing Actually Does
Sealing hides records from public view. It does not erase them. The documents stay in the court system, and authorized people, including the parties, their attorneys, and certain government agencies, can still reach them.
Two neighboring tools often get confused with sealing. Expungement, depending on the jurisdiction, can mean legally erasing or physically destroying a record so the case is treated as if it never happened. A motion to suppress is different again: it asks the court to exclude specific evidence from trial, usually because it was obtained in violation of a constitutional right. Suppression controls what the judge or jury sees during the case. Sealing controls what the public sees after a document is filed.
The Standard a Judge Applies
Courts do not seal records casually, and they do not seal them just because both sides want it. The public’s right of access belongs to the public, not the parties, and the judge has an independent duty to protect it. Even an uncontested motion gets scrutinized.
The party asking to seal carries the burden. Generalized concerns about embarrassment or vague appeals to privacy will not succeed. The movant has to identify a specific, serious injury that disclosure would cause and explain why that injury outweighs transparency. The Supreme Court has described open proceedings, particularly in criminal cases, as something that “enhances both the basic fairness of the criminal trial and the appearance of fairness so essential to public confidence in the system.”1Constitution Annotated. Access to Government Places and Papers That is the weight sitting on the other side of the scale.
Narrow Tailoring
Even when some protection is warranted, judges look for the least restrictive fix. Usually that means redacting the sensitive portions of a document rather than sealing the whole filing. Asking to seal an entire brief when only a few paragraphs contain protected information is a good way to get the motion denied or trimmed down. Most courts expect the filer to submit a redacted public version alongside the full sealed version so the judge can see exactly how little needs to be hidden.
Grounds That Typically Succeed
Courts evaluate each request on its own facts, but the recurring categories are familiar.
- Trade secrets and confidential business information. Companies in litigation often have to produce proprietary data, pricing models, or internal strategy. Judges are generally receptive to sealing when the party can show it treated the material as closely guarded, the information has substantial value, and disclosure would cause concrete competitive harm.
- Personal privacy. Medical records, financial details, and information about minors are frequent candidates. Federal rules already require automatic redaction of Social Security numbers, birth dates, minors’ names, and financial account numbers, limiting those to partial identifiers like the last four digits of an account. When partial redaction is not enough, a motion to seal a full document may be appropriate.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5.2 – Privacy Protection for Filings Made with the Court
- National security and law enforcement. Classified information, confidential informants, and protected witnesses raise stakes courts take seriously. Disclosure could endanger a person’s life or compromise an ongoing operation.
- Preventing prejudice or harassment. In family law disputes, sexual assault cases, and similar sensitive matters, courts weigh the risk of lasting harm against the public interest in knowing what the judicial system is doing.
How a Motion to Seal Gets Filed
Procedure varies between federal districts and state courts, but the shape of the filing is consistent. You cannot simply ask the clerk to hide a document. Clerks have no authority to seal anything on their own; every seal requires a judicial order.
The motion itself is usually a public filing. It describes what you want sealed in general terms without quoting the sensitive content, explains the legal basis, and states how long the seal should last. With the motion, you file a sealed memorandum containing the detailed factual and legal justification, along with the documents themselves. Most courts want both a redacted public version and an unredacted version under seal so the judge can see the full picture of what is being withheld.
While the motion is pending, the documents are typically placed under a temporary or provisional seal; the court will not leave sensitive material exposed to the public while it decides. You must serve the motion on all other parties, and in many courts, the motion sits on the public docket for a set period so interested non-parties can object before the judge rules. If your case already has a standing protective order or sealing order, check whether it covers the specific document you are filing. If it does not, you need a fresh motion.
Protective Orders Are Not the Same Thing
A protective order, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), governs how parties handle sensitive information during discovery, before anything is filed with the court.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose, General Provisions Governing Discovery The public has no general right to discovery materials that never reach the court, so protective orders operate in a space where the presumption of access does not fully apply.
The moment those same documents are attached to a motion or otherwise filed, the calculus shifts. The Federal Judicial Center puts it this way: “information should not be sealed unless the court finds that the specific information satisfies grounds for sealing a portion of the court’s presumptively public record,” and “sealing decisions must be made by the court” rather than the parties.4Federal Judicial Center. Confidential Discovery – A Pocket Guide on Protective Orders A blanket protective order covering discovery does not extend to court filings. You need a separate motion to seal, judged by the stricter standard.
If the Motion Is Granted
Once granted, the specified documents become inaccessible to the general public. Anyone searching the court’s electronic filing system or visiting the clerk’s office cannot view them. The records remain in the system, available to the parties, their attorneys, and court personnel who need access for case administration.
Who Still Has Access
Law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and probation departments can generally reach sealed records for official purposes, including internal hiring. For sealed criminal records specifically, licensing boards for regulated professions such as law, medicine, and financial services may also have access, and federal security clearance investigations can reach them as well. The exact scope depends on the type of record, the jurisdiction, and the terms of the sealing order itself.
How Long Sealing Lasts
Not every sealing order is permanent. Courts sometimes set a specific end date, particularly when the reason is tied to a temporary circumstance like an ongoing investigation or a pending transaction. Other orders stay in effect indefinitely, which is common for trade secrets and national security information where the sensitivity does not fade. Some orders build in periodic review, requiring the parties to justify continued sealing at set intervals.
Effect on Background Checks
For criminal records, sealing generally keeps the information off standard employment background checks. Most commercial background check companies will not report sealed records, and many jurisdictions prohibit employers from asking about them. Exceptions exist for law enforcement positions, work involving children or the elderly, federally regulated financial services roles, and jobs requiring security clearances. The practical impact depends heavily on where you live and the kind of work you do.
If the Motion Is Denied
Denial is a real possibility, and the consequences are worth thinking through before you file. If the court concludes the public’s right of access outweighs the claimed harm, it denies the motion. In most courts, the filing party then has a short window, often around ten days, to decide whether to let the documents enter the public record or withdraw them.
That window is where the risk sits. If you attached sensitive documents expecting them to be sealed and the judge disagrees, those documents can become public unless you act quickly. Some courts keep filings under provisional seal during the decision period; others do not. The safest working assumption is that anything you file with a court could eventually be public.
Denial of a motion to seal does not block a party from seeking a protective order under Rule 26(c) for the underlying discovery materials.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose, General Provisions Governing Discovery The two mechanisms do different jobs, and losing a sealing motion does not mean you have lost all protection during discovery.
Challenging or Unsealing Records Later
Sealing orders are not immune from challenge, and the people who can challenge them are not limited to the original parties. Members of the press and public are entitled to an opportunity to be heard on their exclusion from judicial proceedings, and federal courts have recognized across multiple circuits that closure of judicial records is a sufficient injury to support a legal challenge. There is no deadline. A motion to unseal can come years after a case closes.
Unsealing essentially reverses the original analysis. The party that obtained the seal has to show the reasons for it still hold. If a trade secret has entered public knowledge, an investigation has wrapped up, or a family matter has reached final resolution, the justification may no longer survive. Courts can also unseal records on their own initiative during periodic review.