Update: October 17, 2024: Despite denying the media coalition’s application to further unseal the superseding indictment on October 14, 2024, the Court on October 17, 2024, denied the defendant’s motion to extend the stay on the release of that document, a motion that the media coalition strongly objected to in an opposition brief dated October 17, 2024.
On October 1, 2024, the News/Media Alliance joined a media coalition in an application to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia requesting that Judge Chutkan grant the DOJ’s request to file a lightly redacted superseding indictment in the case United States v. Donald J. Trump. The media coalition also asked the court to unseal any redactions unless they were essential and narrowly tailored, in line with First Amendment rights of access. On October 2, Judge Chutkan granted the DOJ’s request, over the objections of Trump’s attorneys, to partially unseal the superseding indictment. This legal filing by the DOJ provides the press and public with access to information on one of the most historically significant trials in the United States, and as such the Alliance and the media coalition will continue to push for greater transparency where possible. The Alliance had previously requested the court to allow camera access to the trial.
Charlotte McBirney is Senior Counsel and Director, Public Policy for the News/Media Alliance.