TODAY’S BIG STEAMING BOWL OF WRONG: Courthouse News reporting that “Mueller Seeks Protective Order of Discovery in Manafort’s Va. Case.” Despite the headline, it’s not just Mueller:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller and attorneys for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort can agree on one thing – any evidence unearthed in discovery should be privy to a protective order.

Of course, it’s not uncommon for litigants to request that discovery materials be sealed, and to speed things along, judges too often rubber-stamp these requests. It gets tricky because raw discovery is in most states not a “judicial document” enjoying the presumption of public access. But when one of the parties relies on that document for a substantive motion, they often try to use the “confidential” designation to hide that part of the pleading and redact public copies. This in turn, requires citizen groups or reporters to hire lawyers, intervene in the case, and file substantive motions arguing that the public interest requires disclosure. I’ve done it many times and it can delay the public’s right to know by months.

Raw discovery is not filed with the court, but pleadings and motions are. We the people, own the courts and its contents, not Manafort, and certainly not the Department of Justice or Special Counsels.

***UPDATED AND BUMPED UP***