The Chicago Tribune is asking a judge to make public a series of filings in the Rod Blagojevich case that are being kept secret.
(To read the filing Click here).
Tribune lawyers filed court papers asking that the "wholesale filing of pleadings under seal,"
stop.
Attorneys say that since Feb. 22, 16 court filings were made in secret. The attorneys say there was no attempt to keep even portions of those filings in the public. In the filings they cited, Blagojevich's lawyers filed original pleadings in secret and the government subsequently resigned
"A long line of Supreme Court decisions recognize a presumptive right of public
access to the criminal justice system - including specifically pretrial pleadings and hearings,
which often are as important as the trial itself," attorneys for the Chicago Tribune wrote.
The trial starts a week from today with jury selection.
Attorneys in the case are scheduled to meet in court Thursday.