City of Madison v. Appeals Committee of Madison Human Services Commission

The appeals committee of the Madison Human Services Commission appeals an order denying its motion to seal a court record. The record consists of the transcript of a hearing before the committee, documents it relied on and its decision in an appeal by an applicant for general relief. The trial court ordered that a copy be made public after deleting from it information by which the applicant could be identified.

The issues are whether opening an edited copy of the record violates sec. 49.53(1), Stats., chills the exercise of the constitutional rights of the relief applicant, or is contrary to…