In Re: 2014 Allegheny County, Petition of: WPXI , 192 A.3d 1110 ( 2018 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
WESTERN DISTRICT
IN RE: 2014 ALLEGHENY COUNTY : No. 158 WAL 2018
INVESTIGATING GRAND JURY :
:
: Petition for Allowance of Appeal from
PETITION OF: WPXI, INC. : the Order of the Superior Court
ORDER
PER CURIAM
AND NOW, this 29th day of August, 2018, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is
GRANTED. The issues, as stated by petitioner, with the third issue modified slightly, are:
(1) Did the Superior Court err in holding that a search warrant, and the
related order by the Court of Common Pleas that issued the warrant,
constituted judicial records, but not public judicial records, and
therefore were not subject to the common law right of access
established by the Supreme Court in PG Publishing Co. v. Com., 614
A.2d 1106 (Pa. 1992), which held that executed search warrants are
public judicial records presumptively accessible by the news media
as representatives of the public − although the warrant was already
executed upon a public school district official, in a matter of public
importance and neither the executed warrant nor the order of court
had been placed under seal− simply because the warrant was
related to a matter subject to an investigating grand jury?
(2) Is it error for the Superior Court to hold that an executed search
warrant and a related Order of the Court of Common Pleas, which
have not been placed under seal, are not publicly accessible simply
because the warrant was related to a matter subject to an
investigating grant jury, when that holding conflicts with the search
warrant rules of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure?
(3) Does the First Amendment to the United States Constitution provide
a presumptive right of public access to an executed search warrant
and related order by the Court of Common Pleas in a matter of public
importance, when neither the executed warrant nor the order of court
had been placed under seal, and the warrant was related to a matter
subject to an investigating grand jury?
(4) Was it error, under the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution, the Pennsylvania Constitution, and common law
principles governing the right of access to public judicial records, for
the Court of Common Pleas to expressly refuse to make case-
specific findings openly on the record as to any compelling
governmental interests or public and private interests that would
outweigh the right of access, when the Court of Common Pleas
denied the news media access to an executed search warrant and
related order by the issuing court, neither of which were under seal,
in a matter of public importance?
[158 WAL 2018] - 2