UNITED STATES of America v. Mary Sue HUBBARD et al., Appellants. UNITED STATES of America v. Mary Sue HUBBARD et al. Church of Scientology of California, Appellant. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY OF CALIFORNIA, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America et al., 650 F.2d 293

Summary

The defendants and the church contended that the district court should not have made available to the public papers seized from the church. The defendants introduced the documents under seal in a pretrial suppression hearing and only for the purpose of showing that the search and seizure were unlawful. The court found that the seal on the documents at issue here should not have been lifted and that the church had a valid property interest in the documents return. It held that (1) such orders should have been accompanied by an explanation of what factors entered into the decision; (2) the purposes of public access only modestly served by the decision, and 3) no previous access weighed in favor of the access granted; (4) the documents should have been returned to the church or forfeiture proceedings should have been initiated immediately: (5) the proper balance between the public's interest in the documents and the defendants' privacy interest was not struck because the documents were ...