Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Callahan v. United Network for Organ Sharing. This case concerns the common-law right of access to judicial documents. The underlying suit was brought by certain hospitals and patients against UNOS, a nonprofit organization that administers the U.S. organ procurement network. The amicus brief supports the plaintiffs and argues that (1) UNOS’s narrow definition of judicial records is not supported by 11th Circuit precedent and, if accepted by the court, would imperil the news media’s ability to report on litigation of significant public interest; and (2) a party’s motive in filing a judicial record is irrelevant to whether the public’s qualified common-law right of access to that record is overcome. [2021]
