EDITORIAL: Well, isn’t that special?

Many judges, administrators and prosecutors who run downtown’s federal courthouse have nothing but contempt for the public.

So it was quite appropriate this month when, in response to a brave U.S. magistrate’s criticism of authorities’ increasing preference for “super-sealing” — the filing of court documents and actions in complete secrecy, with no notice to anyone involved — officials decided to rename the practice.

They did not reform it. They did not rescind it. They renamed it “special processing.”

In case you don’t get the joke, “special processing” is Bureaucratese for “Screw you, chump.”

Oh, the laughs those at the courthouse must have had at the expense of the rubes who pay their salaries! Such cynicism in beating back transparency would make Jonathan Gruber proud. You know, “the stupidity of the American voter,” and all that.

A court that keeps its doors closed has no credibility. If people cannot watch criminal and civil proceedings and see all the evidence presented, the public will have no confidence in the integrity of the justice system. They’ll consider any government case a rigged game. And that will have terrible ramifications for our democracy, our liberties and the protections that are supposed to shield us from justice system overreach.

As reported last week by the Review-Journal’s Jeff German, Federal Court Clerk Lance Wilson and U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro signed off on the renaming with input from U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden. They obviously didn’t consult U.S. Magistrate Cam Ferenbach, who lambasted the super-sealing process this year as “constitutionally abhorrent” in a case that all but ruined a Las Vegas family without giving them an opportunity to defend themselves. Such cases are kept out of the court’s digital records and locked in a vault. It enables an outrageously cozy relationship between judges and prosecutors.

“This is the best example I know to show why Congress needs to restrict the ability of the government to file complaints under seal,” Washington attorney David B. Smith told Mr. German.

Nevada’s delegation must act swiftly to change the courthouse culture. It’s not their house, it’s our house.