High court creates board to study public access

Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice William Maupin announced Wednesday that the court is creating a blue ribbon commission to study procedures for preservation, public access and sealing of court records.

In February, the Review-Journal published a series of articles that exposed the fact that since 2000, Clark County judges had decided that more than 100 lawsuits should be hidden from the public, and the litigants involved in those cases tended to be wealthy and influential in business, politics or the courts.

Along with the dispute described in each lawsuit, also kept secret are the outcomes of each lawsuit, the name of the judge who sealed each case, whether the plaintiff or defendant had asked that the lawsuit be sealed, and any explanation by a judge for abandoning the fundamental principle that courts shall be open to the public.

In a news release issued Wednesday by the Nevada Supreme Court, Maupin was quoted as saying that the new commission "will examine a number of issues involving access to court records and the need to balance public access with critical private interests."

The commission's chairman will be Washoe County District Judge Brent Adams. Las Vegas lawyer Don Campbell has also been named to the commission. They will be joined by members of the media and people involved in the court system, according to the news release.

Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty will be the liaison between the commission and the state's high court.