Page:Dobbs public report.pdf/7

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ongoing town meeting.” [1] Several Court rules and policies prohibit the disclosure of confidential, pre-decisional Court information. The Court presents onset and periodic training to employees on these policies.


(1) The Court’s Human Resources Manual.

The Court’s Human Resources Manual provides:

Employees must not disclose or use any confidential information except as required in the performance of official duties or except as expressly permitted by the Court or the employee’s supervising Court Officer.

“Confidential information” means any information relating to the Court or its employees that is not made public through means authorized by the Court. Confidential information includes without limitation:

  • Non-public information relating to a case, such as the outcome of a case, the vote in a case, the identity of the author of any opinion in a case, and the date on which a decision in any case will be announced;
  • The views of any Justice relating to cases or issues that have been before the Court, are currently pending before the Court, or are likely to come before the Court;
  • Non-public information related to the Court’s policies, procedures, or practices; and
  • Non-public personal information about individuals who work at the Court.

A former employee remains bound to the same restrictions on disclosure of confidential information that apply to a current employee, except as modified by the Court or the Court Officer supervising the employee’s former office.

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  1. See Lewis F. Powell, Jr., What Really Goes on in the Supreme Court, in David M. O’Brien, ed., Judges on Judging: Views from the Bench 84 (1997).