From Redacted v. Barr, decided April 19 by Judge Cormac Carney (C.D. Cal.):
In this case, Plaintiff [Redacted], acting pro se, challenged child pornography statutes in this era of advanced technology. The Court granted Defendants' motion to dismiss on December 11, 2019, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed on April 22, 2021. Recently, Plaintiff was fired from his job and has faced obstacles with respect to future employment opportunities. Based on an email on which Plaintiff believes he was "mistakenly included" that refers to his "extracurricular legal activities," Plaintiff believes that his involvement in this litigation is the reason he was fired and has faced these obstacles. Now before the Court is Plaintiff's unopposed petition to reopen this case in order to redact his name from the docket and proceed instead under the pseudonym "John Doe."
Plaintiff's unopposed petition is GRANTED. There is a "strong presumption" in favor of public access to court records "based on the need for federal courts, although independent—indeed, particularly because they are independent—to have a measure of accountability and for the public to have confidence in the administration of justice."
However, "a party may preserve his or her anonymity in judicial proceedings in special circumstances when the party's need for anonymity outweighs prejudice to the opposing party and the public's interest in knowing the party's identity." In cases when "pseudonyms are used to shield the anonymous party from retaliation," courts determine the need for anonymity by evaluating (1) the severity of the threatened harm, (2) the reasonableness of the anonymous party's fears, and (3) the anonymous party's vulnerability to such retaliation.
