Not all court cases are public. The American legal system starts from a presumption of openness, so most criminal and civil proceedings, docket sheets, and filings are available to anyone who asks. But several categories of cases are confidential by law, and judges can seal entire files or black out sensitive information in cases that are otherwise open to the public.
The short version: assume a case is public unless it falls into one of the recognized exceptions below, or unless a judge has ordered specific documents kept out of view.
Cases That Are Confidential by Law
Some proceedings are closed from the moment they begin. A judge does not have to decide anything; the confidentiality is built into the statute or the legal tradition governing that type of case.
Juvenile Cases
Juvenile delinquency and dependency proceedings are almost universally closed to the public. Federal law requires that records from juvenile delinquency proceedings be safeguarded from disclosure to unauthorized persons, and it prohibits publishing a juvenile’s name or photograph in connection with a case unless the minor is prosecuted as an adult.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 5038 – Use of Juvenile Records Most state laws follow the same approach, though the specifics of who can see juvenile records — parents, schools, prosecutors — vary from state to state.
Grand Jury Proceedings
Grand juries operate in near-total secrecy. Federal rules prohibit grand jurors, court reporters, interpreters, and government attorneys from disclosing what happens during proceedings.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 6 – The Grand Jury The secrecy protects people who are investigated but never charged, encourages candid testimony, and keeps targets from fleeing or tampering with evidence before an indictment. Witnesses themselves are generally not bound by the rule, but the evidence and deliberations stay hidden. A court can authorize limited disclosures, but the exceptions are narrow.
National Security Courts
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) reviews government applications for surveillance orders involving foreign intelligence and counterintelligence. All FISC proceedings are closed and conducted without the surveillance target being present or even aware that a hearing is taking place.3Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. About the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Congress receives copies of significant FISC opinions, and some go through declassification review for eventual release, but the vast majority of the court’s work remains secret.
Adoption, Family, and Mental Health Cases
Adoption records are sealed in every state to protect the privacy of birth parents, adoptive parents, and the child. Family law matters involving child custody or domestic violence can also be closed by court order when a participant’s safety is at stake, and many states shield victims’ addresses and other identifying details from the public record. Hearings on involuntary mental health commitment or competency evaluations are kept private to protect the individual’s medical information.
When Public Cases Have Private Parts
Even in a case that is fully open, specific documents or pieces of information can be withheld. Two tools do this work: sealing and redaction.
Sealed Records
A sealed record is a document or set of documents a judge has removed from public access. Sealing is not automatic. The party asking for it has to justify it, and the seal should be narrowly tailored — covering only what genuinely needs to be hidden rather than an entire file when a few redacted pages would do. Embarrassment alone is rarely enough. Judges typically seal records to protect national security information, the identity of a confidential informant, trade secrets in commercial litigation, or the safety of victims and witnesses.
Redacted Filings
Redaction is more common. Instead of hiding a whole document, it blacks out specific pieces of sensitive information. Federal courts require anyone filing a document to strip out most personal identifiers before it hits the public record. In criminal cases, the rule covers Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, birth dates, names of minors, financial account numbers, and home addresses. Filers may include only the last four digits of a Social Security or account number, the year of a birth date, a minor’s initials, and a city and state rather than a full address.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 49.1 – Privacy Protection for Filings Made with the Court The parallel civil rule imposes nearly identical requirements.5Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5.2 – Privacy Protection for Filings Made with the Court
The responsibility to redact falls on the filer, not the clerk. If someone files an unredacted document by mistake, they can ask the court for relief, but the damage may already be done if the document sat on the public docket.
Protective Orders in Civil Cases
Sensitive material exchanged during discovery in a civil case — financial records, proprietary business data, medical files — often never gets filed with the court, so it never becomes public in the first place. When it does need to be filed, either party can ask the judge for a protective order under the “good cause” standard, showing that disclosure would cause clearly defined and serious harm.6Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 – Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery The order can forbid disclosure, limit who can see the material, or require that certain documents be filed under seal.
Getting a Record Removed From Public View
If a case is already on the public record and you want it off, the two paths are expungement and sealing. People use the words interchangeably, but they work differently.
A sealed record still exists. The file is intact, but a court order keeps anyone from viewing it without judicial permission. Law enforcement and certain government agencies may still access it. Expungement goes further and results in the deletion of the record, as though the arrest or charge never happened. With an expunged record, you can generally answer “no” on applications that ask about prior arrests or convictions. With a sealed record, the correct answer depends on who is asking and what your state’s law says.
Eligibility
Every state sets its own rules. Common requirements include a waiting period after the case ends, no additional criminal history during that period, and an offense below a certain severity threshold. Serious felonies and sex offenses are rarely eligible anywhere. Some states limit expungement to cases that ended in dismissal or acquittal; others allow it after conviction for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies.
Process
You typically file a petition in the court that handled the original case, one petition per case. The judge reviews your record against the state’s eligibility rules and decides. Filing fees range from nothing to around $400 depending on the jurisdiction. If the petition is granted, you are often responsible for sending copies of the court order to every agency that holds records of the case — police, sheriff, probation, and anyone else involved.
Clean Slate Laws
A growing number of states have passed “Clean Slate” laws that automate the process for certain low-level offenses. As of late 2025, 13 states plus Washington, D.C. have enacted some form of automatic record-clearing legislation. These laws typically seal or expunge qualifying records after a set waiting period, often seven years for misdemeanors and ten years for certain felonies, without requiring the individual to file a petition. Serious offenses like sex crimes and domestic violence are excluded.
How to Look Up a Public Court Case
For records that are public, there are two main access points.
At the Courthouse
Visit the clerk’s office at the courthouse where the case was filed. Bring the names of the parties or the case number. The clerk will let you view the file — the physical folder or a digital version on a public terminal — and you can request copies. Certified copies, which carry the court’s official stamp and are accepted as authentic by other agencies, cost more than plain copies. Fees vary, but expect roughly $0.50 to $1.00 per page, plus a flat fee for certification.
Federal Cases Through PACER
Federal court records are available through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, covering every federal district, bankruptcy, and appellate court.7Public Access to Court Electronic Records. Public Access to Court Electronic Records After you create a free account, you can search by party name or case number and download documents. Access costs $0.10 per page, capped at $3.00 per document. If your total charges stay at $30 or less in a calendar quarter, the fees are waived. Roughly 75 percent of PACER users pay nothing in a given quarter, according to the courts.8United States Courts. Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule
State and Local Cases
State court access is uneven. Many states have online portals where you can search dockets and, in some cases, view or download documents. Some are free; others charge fees comparable to PACER. A few states still require an in-person visit for anything beyond basic docket information. Start with the website of the specific court where the case was filed, or the state judiciary’s main site.
What Shows Up on a Background Check
Public court records feed the background check industry, and that is where the “public record” question hits most people’s daily lives. The Fair Credit Reporting Act limits what screening companies can report. Arrest records and other adverse non-conviction information — charges that were dismissed or ended in acquittal — cannot appear on a consumer report if more than seven years have passed since the charges were filed.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports The seven-year clock starts when the charges are entered, not when they are resolved. Criminal convictions have no federal time limit, so a conviction from 30 years ago can still appear.
Even after a court seals or expunges a record, it does not vanish from every database overnight. Private background check companies and data brokers update on their own schedules, sometimes taking six months to a year, and some may never update unless pushed. If you have obtained an order sealing or expunging your record, contact the major background check companies directly, send them a copy of the order, and demand that they update their files. The court order gives you legal standing, but enforcement often falls on you.