Anonymous v. Anonymous

*297The Supreme Court appropriately exercised its discretion in declining to grant plaintiffs request to exclude all persons except the parties, their counsel and witnesses from the hearing in the instant custody dispute. Public access to court proceedings is strongly favored, both as a matter of constitutional law (Richmond Newspapers v Virginia, 448 US 555) and as statutory imperative (Judiciary Law §4). In that regard, plaintiff has not established sufficient grounds to warrant closing the court in the present instance. The unsupported speculation by her counsel as to the deleterious effect…