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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
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SDNY COURTHOUSE, Sept 1 – While bench trials and in-person evidentiary hearings have resumed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, still neither is taking place in the District for the District of Colombia, Inner City Press learned on September 1.   

This was from DDC Judge Trevor McFadden, in a panel sponsored by among others Lockheed Martin.

There was better news, that some courts are now streaming or allowing telephone access to their proceedings.  

But there was not answer from the panelists or M.C. to Press questions about disparities in transparency and privacy for lower income defendants and higher profile protagonists like Michael Avenatti, with a publicly paid Federal Defender but all of his application still sealed.  

The event: "Our distinguished panelists include:  Jason Leopold, Senior Investigative Reporter, Buzzfeed News Hon. Trevor McFadden, District Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Hon. Karl Racine, Attorney General for the District of Columbia Katie Townsend, Legal Director, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Moderator: Jim McLaughlin, Deputy General Counsel, Washington Post Thank you to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Arent Fox LLP, Arnold & Porter LLP, Baker Botts LLP,  Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, Covington & Burling LLP, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Williams & Connolly, and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP for sponsoring this event!" 

 The question, still unanswered: "for Judge Trevor N. McFadden: I cover the SDNY courthouse and notice a disparity in transparency / privacy for defendants based on income. Those applying for publicly funded lawyers in the Magistrates Court have their financial information read into the record. Meanwhile a defendant like Michael Avenatti, getting a publicly funded lawyer, for now has his information sealed. Inner City Press has moved to unseal it, but it has not yet happened. 

Does the judge think this is right, and what can be done to ensure equal justice as well as more transparency, for example the release of the court filings of Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards which Inner City Press is also seeking to have docketed and disclosed? (This last may be for Jason Leopold). Thanks in advance -Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press." 

 To be fair, another unanswered - unasked but submitted - question, to the local DC courts fill-in representative: "Chris Langello 05:55 PM  Mr. Downs, I submitted a FOIA to the OAG in 2018 asking for the official phone numbers of the AAGs working in the OAG Criminal Division, and the OAG determined that I could not get this information as too private. These are government issued phones, so why not allow a defense attorney like myself to have access to this list? On the federal side, agencies provide this information through FOIA. For me, this set a very damp tone on non-transparency. Thanks."   

The problem with virtual proceedings is that not only can questions be cherry picked - they can simply pretend some questions were not asked, "in the chat" or Q&A. But the panelists saw it, and the "hmm" at the end. We hope to have more on this. 

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