By Carolyn Freer
NBC Connecticut
November 2, 2009
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Diocese-Document-Block-Denied-Again-68575437.html
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The Bridgeport Diocese wants to block release of sex abuse case documents
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the Bridgeport Diocese again. On Monday, the most powerful panel of legal minds in the country turned away another appeal to stop the release of documents generated for sexual abuse lawsuits against priests in the diocese.
The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits against the six priests should be unsealed.
The court refused to hear an appeal from the diocese, which has been fighting for years to prevent the release of the documents.
“We were disappointed to learn that the United States Supreme Court has decided not to hear our case," diocese officials said in a release on Monday. "The Court reviews only about 80 cases out of more than 10,000 cases presented, and regularly reminds the public that it must decline to review many cases that were wrongly decided by the lower courts. Unfortunately, ours was one of those cases."
In October, the justices refused to grant a delay while they considered the diocese's full appeal. The order was issued without comment from justices.
There is certainly a demand for the information held within the documents. The New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post and Hartford Courant have all sued for access to the material.
The documents include depositions, affidavits and motions. Most of the lawsuits were settled for undisclosed amounts in 2001, with the agreement that the individual settlements and the documents should remain sealed.
The diocese says the First Amendment prohibits civil authorities from intruding into internal church decisions about priest assignments.
Attorneys for the diocese and the newspapers are set to meet in Superior Court in Waterbury on Nov. 9 to work out details of how the information will be released and what documents will remain confidential.
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