Court: Unindicted Bridgegate co-conspirators can remain unidentified

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Wednesday that prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure case do not need to disclose the names of unindicted coconspirators to the news media.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the names of individuals who prosecutors believe joined the conspiracy to jam traffic at the bridge in 2013, but whom the government did not charge with a crime, were "not subject to any First Amendment or common law right of public access."

The ruling was a victory for an unindicted coconspirator known only as John Doe, who asked the Third Circuit to block the public release of the names in May after a federal judge ordered their disclosure to the media.

Jury selection in the case is to begin Thursday. Bridget Anne Kelly, Gov. Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a former top Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, are charged in the alleged scheme to punish a mayor who did not endorse the governor's reelection.

David Wildstein, another former high-ranking Port Authority official, pleaded guilty in 2015 and is cooperating with the government.

"Public access to judicial documents and court proceedings is a respected tradition and important legal principle, but it has bounds," Judge Kent A. Jordan wrote for the panel. "That is so even in a case affected by heightened public interest. The time may come, perhaps at trial, when the information in the conspirator letter ought to be made public, but that time is not here yet."

Jordan added, " 'Information wants to be free' is, in some quarters, a popular slogan, but there are dangers to the administration of justice in too freely granting access to information of the sort at issue here."

Wednesday's ruling vacated a May decision that required prosecutors to disclose the names of the alleged conspirators to a group of news organizations that had sued the government.

The indictment says that Kelly, Baroni, and "others, including Wildstein," decided to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich by causing gridlock in his town, and that they attempted to conceal the scheme by promoting a "sham story" of a traffic study. The mention of "others" refers to the unindicted coconspirators.

Jenny Kramer, Doe's attorney, said, "We are very gratified that the court adopted our arguments and prevented disclosure of highly prejudicial material to which there is no public right of access. We also appreciate the forthright and professional manner in which the United States attorney addressed the important issues we raised in this case."

Bruce Rosen, an attorney for the news organizations, said that he was reviewing the decision but that an appeal "would be difficult in view of the time frame, and some or all of these names may be released at trial."

"We continue to believe that the public is entitled to the list of unindicted coconspirators under the First Amendment," he said.

The ruling hinged on an arcane legal issue: whether the list of unindicted coconspirators carried the legal significance of a supplement to the public indictment - and therefore generally ought to be subject to disclosure - or if it was provided to Kelly and Baroni as part of the private discovery process.

The panel found that the list of names, provided to the defendants and U.S. District Court Judge Susan D. Wigenton in January, was shared as part of the discovery process.

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@AndrewSeidman