From U.S. Army ROTC ECP Cadet Doe v. Biden, decided yesterday by Chief Judge Beryl Howell (D.D.C.) (contrary to decisions in M.D. Fla., N.D. Ill. and D. Colo., but consistently with this nonprecedential Seventh Circuit order):
Plaintiff, "a nineteen-year-old male ROTC Early Commissioning Program (ECP) candidate" who is "currently a drilling member of the Army National Guard," has moved to proceed under pseudonym in the instant action challenging defendants' vaccination policies and their interference with his "fundamental right to the free exercise of religion." For the reasons set forth below, plaintiff's motion is denied, subject to any further consideration by the United States District Judge to whom this case is randomly assigned….
Despite the presumption in favor of disclosure [of party names], … [c]ourts …, in special [and rare] circumstances, may permit a party to proceed anonymously. A party seeking to do so, however, "bears the weighty burden of both demonstrating a concrete need for such secrecy, and identifying the consequences that would likely befall it if forced to proceed in its own name." Once that showing has been made, "the court must then 'balance the litigant's legitimate interest in anonymity against countervailing interests in full disclosure.'" …
At this early stage of the litigation, plaintiff has not persuasively met the burden of showing that the legitimate privacy interests he holds outweigh the public's presumptive interest in knowing the details of this litigation. Plaintiff has articulated no privacy interest sufficient to rebut the presumption in favor of open proceedings….
[1.] Plaintiff argues that pseudonymity is justified because his "sincere religious beliefs" and "medical decisions and past infections" are "personal intimate information justifying anonymity." Plaintiff asserts, in conclusory fashion, that "[d]ecisions regarding vaccinations, illness and treatment … are just like decisions regarding birth control," which other circuits have cited as grounds to allow a plaintiff to proceed under pseudonym.
