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Freitas v. Administrative Director of the Courts6/16/2004
hasis added). We agree with this rationale and therefore conclude that inasmuch as ADLRO hearings are quasi-judicial in nature, due process requires that the hearings be public.
VII.
However, " he press' and public's right of access to administrative proceedings . . . is not absolute." Detroit Free Press, 195 F. Supp. 2d at 944 (citations omitted). Notably "there are two broad categories of exceptions to the practice of openness in the courtroom" that may be applied analogously to administrative proceedings. Id. at 945 n.8. As previously mentioned, in Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., the Sixth Circuit held that the first category was "based on the need to keep order and dignity in the courtroom and [the second,] those which center on the content of the information to be disclosed to the public." 710 F.2d at 1179. As to the first category, the Sixth Circuit declared that the first type of access restriction resembles the traditional time, place and manner restrictions on speech[, requiring adherence to] . . . the following three-part test: that the regulation serve an important governmental interest; that this interest be unrelated to the content of the information to be disclosed in the proceeding; and that there be no less restrictive way to meet that goal.
Id. (emphasis added) (citing O'Brien, 391 U.S. at 377). According to that court, " hese limitations on access, such as regulating the number of spectators or the use of flashbulbs or cameras, have been accepted in many instances as based on the legitimate societal interest in protecting the adjudicatory process from disruption." Id. The second category on limitations on access to court proceedings are "content-based exceptions to the right of access[.]" Id. Because this case involves sign-in and identification restrictions and not content-based limitations resulting in closure of the proceedings, the test set forth above applies.
VIII.
However, the ADLRO denied Freitas a hearing on his objections to the identification and sign-in procedures. Because he has a right to a public hearing, as discussed supra section VI., he is entitled to show that the procedure limiting public access was not warranted. See Detroit Free Press, 195 F. Supp. 2d at 944; see also Pechter v. Lyons, 441 F. Supp. 115, 117-18 (D.C.N.Y. 1977).
IX.
Based on the foregoing, we temporarily remand the case to the ADLRO to afford Freitas a hearing on his aforesaid objections. Therefore,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the case is temporarily remanded to the ADLRO to promptly conduct a hearing as set forth herein. Within thirty (30) days of the date of this opinion, the ADLRO hearing officer shall file its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order pertaining to the issues presented on remand. Freitas's counsel shall ensure that a copy of the ADLRO's findings, conclusions, and order is transmitted as a supplemental record to this court within five (5) days from the date of its entry.
The clerk of this court shall forthwith transfer to the ADLRO the files and transcripts previously docketed under No. 25323. The clerk of the ADLRO shall retransmit the record, together with the supplemental record within the time above limited.
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