Public Access to the Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant (and Other Federal Search Warrants and Related Documents)

Last week, the FBI searched former President Trump’s home at the Mar-a-Lago Club pursuant to a search warrant. At first none of the relevant documents were publicly available. The application, the warrant itself, and the inventory were all sealed. The Government, with the consent of former President Trump, later moved to unseal the warrant and the inventory. That motion was granted and anyone can access the now-public documents here. The application remains under seal, though members of the news media have moved to unseal it. Because several people asked me about public access to federal search warrants and related documents, and because the process isn’t exactly the same as it is under state law, I thought I’d do a post comparing state and federal law on this issue. Public access to search warrants and related documents under North Carolina law. The seminal state case in this area is In re Investigation into Death of Cooper, 200 N.C. App. 180 (2009). I wrote about that case here. It began when the Cary Police Department suspected that Brad Cooper had murdered his wife, Nancy Cooper. It sought three search warrants that together allowed a search of Brad Cooper’s home, office, vehicles, computers, and documents. A superior court judge issued the warrants and ordered that the applications, warrants, and returns be sealed for 30 days to protect the ongoing investigation. The news media moved to unseal the documents, and when a superior court judge denied the motion, media representatives appealed to the appellate division. [...]