22nd Judicial Circuit Court, McHenry County Sealing & Redaction Procedures

A motion to seal must be written, presented to the assigned judge with notice to all parties, explain the sealing basis, and specify the sealing duration; the motion itself may be sealed upon specific request if it discusses confidential material.

All motions to seal a file, records or documents must be made in writing and presented to the judge assigned to hear the case with appropriate notice to all parties of record. The motion must explain the basis for sealing the file, records or documents and specify the proposed duration of the sealing order. Any motion to seal, upon specific request, may also be sealed if it contains a discussion of the confidential material.

Except when a statute provides otherwise, files, records, or documents may be impounded or sealed only by written court order.

Except as otherwise provided by statute, any files, records or documents may be impounded or sealed only upon written order of a judge.

The clerk may not impound or seal a file or any part of it without a written order, unless law or the Manual on Recordkeeping requires otherwise.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court shall not impound or seal any file or any part thereof without a written order unless otherwise required by law or the Manual on Recordkeeping.

Juvenile files are subject to statutory impoundment requirements.

Juvenile files shall be impounded subject to the terms of 705 ILCS 405/1-8, 705 ILCS 405/5-901.

Fitness reports and psychological or psychiatric evaluations are subject to statutory impoundment requirements.

Fitness reports, psychological and/or psychiatric evaluations shall be impounded subject to the terms of 725 ILCS 5/104-19.

Pre-sentence investigation reports are subject to statutory impoundment requirements.

Pre-Sentence investigation reports shall be impounded subject to the terms of the 730 ILCS 5/5-3-4 (a) and (b).

Mental health records are subject to statutory impoundment requirements.

Mental health records shall be impounded subject to the terms of 740 ILCS 110/1 et. seq.

Adoption files are subject to statutory impoundment requirements.

Adoption files shall be impounded subject to the terms of 750 ILCS 50/18.

Reports concerning adjudication of disability and appointment of a guardian are subject to statutory impoundment requirements.

Reports filed with respect to adjudication of disability and appointment of guardian shall be impounded subject to the terms of 755 ILCS 5/11a-9.

The judge must issue a written order granting or denying the sealing request; if granted, the order must specify the scope of sealing, whether parties' names are removed from the public index, and the sealing duration.

The judge hearing the motion shall enter a written order either granting or denying the request on a form approved by the Circuit Judges. If the judge grants the motion, then the order shall designate whether the entire file, record or document, or only a portion of the entire file, record or document, shall be sealed. The order shall further designate whether an order sealing a file includes removing the parties’ names from public access to the index and the duration the file is to be sealed.

When a party has a legal basis to seek sealing without a prior order, it must electronically file a motion for leave to file under seal, explain the legal standards, and not attach the document to the motion.

A party who has a legal basis for filing a document under seal without a prior court order must electronically file a motion for leave to file under seal. The motion must include an explanation of how the document meets the legal standards for filing sealed documents. The document in question may not be attached to the motion as an attachment.

Parties and counsel must omit specified personal identifiers from electronically filed documents, or redact them when inclusion is necessary, unless the court orders otherwise.

Parties and their counsel shall refrain from including, or shall redact where inclusion is necessary, the following personal identifiers from all documents electronically filed with the court unless otherwise ordered by the court.

In a pending criminal matter, the defendant's attorney and prosecutor may review and obtain copies of sealed pretrial bond and pretrial supervised release reports without court leave.

An attorney who represents a client named as the defendant in a pending criminal matter and the prosecutor may, without leave of court review, and ===== PAGE 14 ===== obtain a copy of the sealed Pre-trial Services Bond Report and Pre-Trial Supervised Release Reports of the defendant who is the subject of the report.

In a pending criminal matter, the defendant's attorney and prosecutor may review and obtain a copy of the separately sealed substance abuse evaluation without court leave, although the evaluation is otherwise impounded.

An attorney who represents a client named as the defendant in a pending criminal matter and the prosecutor may, without leave of court, review and obtain a copy of the defendant’s substance abuse evaluation sealed and maintained separately by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, which evaluation shall otherwise be impounded.