Lawyers: How can we scrutinize surveillance records that remain sealed?

Enlarge / The Oakland division of the US District Court for the Northern District of California heard arguments on May 4, 2017 for In re: Granick. (credit: Cyrus Farivar)

OAKLAND, Calif.-A federal judge appeared generally skeptical to two legal scholars' efforts to get the court to unseal years' worth of sealed surveillance records held in a Northern California court.

However, US Magistrate Judge Kandis Westmore left open the possibility for the petitioners to narrow their request and work with representatives from the Department of Justice to come up with a workable solution.

"That the court can figure out a way to comply with, we are certainly open to that," Judge Westmore said toward the end of a Thursday hearing. "Right now... we don't have a proposal in front of us that we can buy into. As currently stated, this is not something that the court can provide-it's just too broad."

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