Northern District of Texas Sealing & Redaction Procedures
4 rules from official source documents
0 of 4 checked against the court's document. Each rule says how far it was checked. A value with a question mark is not in the court's wording on its card.
Procedures for filing sealed or redacted documents, including required motions and formats. This page is scoped to Northern District of Texas; use the court rules overview to switch categories without leaving this court.
Machine summary. Not checked yet.CRITICAL?
Civil cases
a Party seeking to file a specific document under seal must move for leave to do so and must: a. identify precisely what information (pages, lines, etc.) the Party wants sealed; b. conduct a line-by-line, page-by-page analysis explaining and briefing why
Summary: Parties must file motion for leave to seal with specific identification and detailed analysis
Machine summary. Not checked yet.WARNING?
Civil cases
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently warned that – where, “increasingly, courts are sealing documents in run-of-the-mill cases where the parties simply prefer to keep things under wraps” – “the working presumption is that judicial records should not be sealed.” Le v. Exeter Fin. Corp., 990 F.3d 410, 417, 419 (5th Cir. 2021) (emphasis added).
Summary: Judicial records should not be sealed absent good cause or compelling reasons.
Machine summary. Not checked yet.WARNING?
Civil cases
The Fifth Circuit explained that “courts should be ungenerous with their discretion to seal judicial records, which plays out in two legal standards.... The first standard, requiring only good cause, applies to protective orders sealing documents produced in discovery. The second standard, a stricter balancing test, applies [o]nce a document is filed on the public record – when a document becomes a judicial record.” Id. at 419 (cleaned up) (emphasis added); see also id. (noting that, “at the adjudicative stage, when materials enter the court record, the standard for shielding records from public view is far more arduous” (emphasis removed)).
Summary: Two standards for sealing: good cause for discovery materials, stricter balancing test for judicial records.
Machine summary. Not checked yet.WARNING?
Civil cases
The panel acknowledged that, “even under the stricter balancing standard, litigants sometimes have good reasons to file documents (or portions of them) under seal, such as protecting trade secrets or the identities of confidential informants.” Id. at 419.
Summary: Trade secrets and confidential informant identities are valid reasons to seal documents.
How does Northern District of Texas handle sealed or redacted filings?
A motion to seal is required for covered sealed filings before Judge Ada Brown. Process: file redacted on ecf. Parties must file motion for leave to seal with specific identification and detailed analysis Machine summary, not yet verified; check the linked order.
3 more rules answer this question in the list above.
Related categories
Back to all rules for this courtPage & Word Limits
Maximum page counts and word limits for motions, briefs, and other filings by judge.
Courtesy Copy Requirements
When and how to deliver courtesy copies to chambers, including triggers, timing, and formatting.
Electronic Filing Rules
Electronic filing requirements, permitted filing channels, EFSP portals, and exceptions.
Filing Timing and Cure Windows
Filing cutoffs, deemed-filed rules, rejection handling, cure periods, and outage procedures.