Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action v. United States Dept. of the Navy

Summary

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and others (together Ground Zero) filed suit against the United States Department of the Navy and several government officials. It alleged that the Navy had not fully complied with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 with respect to its Environmental Impact Statement for the expansion of its TRIDENT nuclear submarine operating center on Washington’s Kitsap Naval Base. During the litigation, the district court issued an order restricting the dissemination of documents that the Navy inadvertently made available for a time through the public docket. The court denied Ground Zero’s motion to unseal the record and lift the restrictions it imposed and granted summary judgment to the Navy.

Affirmed; vacated and remanded. Seattle Times Co. v. Rhinehart allowed the “dissemination of information identical to that subject to a protective order so long as the ‘information is gained through means independent of the court’s processes.’” Here, Ground Zero argued that the court’s “gag order” violated due process and the First Amendment. The district court’s order did not forbid Ground Zero from disseminating copies of the sealed documents if it had obtained them from an independent source. As such, Ground Zero could discuss and distribute the documents as long as it acquired them from a source not involved in the litigation, thus resolving the vagueness due process challenge. It was not clear, however, that the court’s order complied with the First Amendment. Thus, this court vacated and remanded the order regarding Ground Zero’s use of the documents, but otherwise affirmed.

Opinion by Judge Marsha S. Berzon.

— Maeda Riaz