EDNY Judge Kovner Tells Inner City Press to Take Its Habeas Access Bid to Clerk Office But DE Bans It

EDNY Judge Kovner Tells Inner City Press to Take Its Habeas Access Bid to Clerk Office But DE Bans It by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack EDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov. 5 — In an ICE habeas corpus case that remains largely non-public, EDNY Judge Rachel P. Kovner on Nov. 4 treated Inner City Press’s emailed request for public remote access as a “one-time courtesy” and told it that “in the future, requests for court action should be filed through ECF or the Clerk’s Office.” The case is Cepeda Guaman v. Maldonado, 1:26-cv-05827, a Sept. 21 petition by Darwin Adrian Cepeda Guaman against Raul Maldonado Jr., Markwayne Mullin, Todd Blanche and David J. Venturella, with a temporary restraining order motion, a motion to expedite and a motion to bar redetention if he is released. Judge Kovner docketed the request as Dkt. 16 and ordered the government and the petitioner to each file a letter of no more than three pages on it by Nov. 10.  Her order also invoked Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(c)(2), which limits a non-party’s remote electronic access in actions “relating to … immigration benefits or detention” to the docket and to “an opinion, order, judgment, or other disposition of the court,” “unless the court orders otherwise,” though a non-party may still see the “full record at the courthouse.”  That is the problem. The docket entries and orders are public, but the petition, the government’s return and the other filings are not available to the public online, and Inner City Press has been removed from the courthouse.  On Nov. 4, Inner City Press was escorted out of the Brooklyn courthouse by three Court Security Officers and had its press passes for the Clase and Huawei trials taken, after the U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman, John Marzulli, ordered it out of Judge Matsumoto’s courtroom for using a cell phone while many others did the same. Inner City Press is also an attorney admitted to the EDNY. So the court’s suggested remedy, filing through the Clerk’s Office or viewing the “full record at the courthouse,” is one Inner City Press cannot use in practice. It cannot enter the building, and it cannot see the case on the public terminal there. Inner City Press’s position is that this amounts to censorship and a cover-up, and that it traces to Mr. Marzulli, whose office represents the respondents in this case.  What the public cannot see matters here. Judge Kovner’s order of the same day directs the government to file by Nov. 10 a supplemental return that “identifies the statutory provision under which petitioner is currently detained and states whether a final order of removal exists as to petitioner and, if so, the date and basis on which the order became final,” attaching the Board of Immigration Appeals’ Oct. 29, 2026 decision. The petitioner may respond by Nov. 13. Those are basic questions about the legal basis for a man’s detention, and the filings that answer them are the ones Rule 5.2(c)(2) keeps off the public docket.  The rule’s limit can be lifted. On Oct. 21 EDNY Judge Hector Gonzalez granted Inner City Press’s request in Belgal v. Genalo, 26-cv-6607, and directed the Clerk “to make all previous and future filings on the docket, except for those filed under seal, publicly available via remote access,” finding that public access “allows the public to understand the activity of the federal courts, enhances the court system’s accountability and legitimacy, and informs the public of matters of public concern.” Inner City Press has asked seven other EDNY judges to do the same in the habeas cases before them. It will file a response to Judge Kovner’s order by Nov. 10 and asks that she follow Judge Gonzalez. Perhaps now that the anti-disclosure effects of DOJ's Marzulli's and DE Corcoran's abrupt no due process ouster of the Press become clearer, she and Judge Gonzalez will do something to end the anti-Press dynamic in EDNY. Watch this site. *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com