Hawaii Courts’ Medical Record Sealing Mandate Deemed Overbroad

Hawaii may not mandate the categorical sealing of medical and health records filed in any state court proceeding in order to protect individual privacy rights, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

The First Amendment presumptively protects the public’s right of access to judicial proceedings and documents, and only a compelling governmental interest will rebut that presumption, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said. Protecting an individual’s privacy may constitute a compelling interest, but the state rules restricting access are unconstitutionally overbroad because they’re not narrowly tailored to serve it, Judge Richard A. Paez said.

The court ...