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	Scalia Passes Bridgeport Diocese's Clergy Sex Abuse Files Request to Full Court By Dave Altimari The Hartford Courant September 3, 2009 http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-scalia-priests-0903a.artsep03,0,1481163.story Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Wednesday passed to the full court a request by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport to keep clergy sex abuse files sealed, at least for now. The full court will decide the matter by Sept. 29. The diocese had asked Scalia to stay the publication of more than 12,000 documents while the full court decides whether to take up the diocese's appeal of an earlier ruling by the Connecticut Supreme Court that the documents are public records. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg denied the request for a stay last week. Afterward, the diocese had the right to appeal to another justice and it filed an appeal with Scalia late last week. By sending that request to all nine justices, Scalia was following normal procedures of the court. The documents will remain sealed until the full court rules on the stay. Late last week, attorneys for the diocese filed a 50-page writ of certiorari seeking to have the U.S. Supreme Court accept the case, in hopes it will overturn the state Supreme Court ruling. The diocese has been fighting for several years to keep the documents sealed. Critics say the move is an attempt to protect former Bishop Edward M. Egan, who was the bishop who moved many pedophile priests around the diocese even after learning about sexual abuse allegations against them. The diocese is arguing that releasing the sealed files would violate its First Amendment rights "that a church may not be compelled to disclose internal documents relating to hierarchical determinations regarding fitness for ministry." The diocese secretly settled 23 lawsuits for an undisclosed amount in 2001. The suits alleged sexual misconduct by seven Bridgeport Diocese priests. Four newspapers, including The Courant, went to court in 2002 seeking to have the files reopened and to keep them from being destroyed. The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled twice that the files are public.
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