U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in Secret Abortion Bias Case
Posted Nov 11, 2008, 01:20 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a publisher’s appeal of a ruling that had sealed the court record of an abortion bias case.
The secret suit was filed by a woman who claimed she was fired because she had an abortion, the Associated Press reports. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld a decision to seal the court records.
The plaintiff has since settled the case, a factor that could have influenced the court’s decision yesterday to decline the cert petition, the AP story says.
The New York Law Publishing Co. had sought certiorari. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press had also urged the high court to hear the case in an amicus brief filed for itself and 29 other media organizations.
Legal Blog Watch published a portion of the amicus brief from the Reporters Committee. “Despite the profound issues at stake—abortion, medical privacy and alleged employment discrimination—this case was conducted entirely in secret for seven years,” the brief says. “It was not until the 3rd Circuit issued a precedential opinion in May that the public became aware of the existence of this case.”