Several news organizations are asking a federal judge to unseal court records connected to a lawsuit over a proposed deployment of the Oregon National Guard in Portland.
In a motion filed Friday, media groups — including The Oregonian/OregonLive — requested that Karin J. Immergut make public several documents that remain sealed in the case. These include courtroom exhibits and portions of trial transcripts that were previously redacted by the federal government.
The lawsuit originally sought to block a plan by the administration of Donald Trump to station National Guard troops at a local office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in South Portland.
Judge Immergut issued a permanent injunction in November stopping the deployment. The federal government later dropped its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in February.
The request to unseal the records was filed by advocacy groups Public Accountability and Public Justice on behalf of several media outlets, including the Associated Press, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Oregon Capital Chronicle and Gray Local Media.
Attorneys for the media organizations argue that federal lawyers failed to provide detailed reasons for keeping the documents secret, relying instead on broad concerns such as ongoing investigations or security issues.
Meanwhile, lawyers with the Oregon Department of Justice are also asking the judge to modify the sealing order so records from the lawsuit can be used in local criminal investigations.
Federal attorneys had not responded to the requests as of Monday, and it remains unclear when the court will decide whether the records will be released.
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