Scotus Ruling Paves Way for Disclosures on Sex-Abuse Cases

[WSJ Law Blog]

One day after Red Mass — the traditional Catholic services held in Washington, D.C., to mark the opening of the Supreme Court term (pictured) — the court issued a ruling likely to rankle some at the top of the church’s hierarchy.

In a one-line opinion, the court on Monday rejected a request by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport to delay the release of thousands of legal documents from lawsuits filed against priests accused of child sex abuse. Click here for the story, from the NYT.

According to the NYT story, the ruling could lead to the release of more than 12,000 pages of depositions and church records. The New York Times and three other newspapers had sued to have the documents made public.

The diocese still has another request before the court, asking the justices to hear arguments that release of the records would violate the First Amendment rights accorded to religious groups. But, writes the NYT, such a hearing appears unlikely after the court’s ruling on Monday.

A spokesman for the Bridgeport Diocese said in a statement: “We are disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to extend the stay. For more than a decade, the Catholic Church in Bridgeport has addressed the issue of clergy sexual abuse compassionately and comprehensively. For now, however, the serious threat to the First Amendment rights of all churches and the rightful privacy of all litigants remain in jeopardy because of the decision of the Connecticut Supreme Court. This, indeed, is regrettable.”

The NYT story explains that the records were obtained by plaintiffs in 23 lawsuits filed against the diocese and seven of its priests in the 1990s. They were sealed in 2001 after the diocese reached settlements with the plaintiffs, former altar boys and youth group members who said they were molested by priests in the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s.

In 2002, The NYT filed suit, seeking the release of the records. In June, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings, ordering the documents released.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, filed in August, the Bridgeport Diocese argued that public release of the records would violate the church’s First Amendment protections against government interference in religion and would undermine protections against state interference in church business.

Lawyers for the NYT and the other newspapers have argued that the church waived those rights when it turned the records over to the court in the first place.