The United States Magistrate Judge, Sarah Netburn, has directed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to present its proposed redactions for in-camera review. 

This new turn of events was made public by a defence attorney and former federal prosecutor, James k. Filan. He reported that the SEC had been given an 8th April 2022 deadline to submit the redactions.

James Filan tweeted, “Magistrate Judge Netburn has ordered the SEC to submit its proposed redactions to the Court for in camera review no later than April 8, 2022.”

In January, remember a ruling that the deliberative process privilege (DPP) does not apply to specific sets of notes since gathering facts from third parties is not necessarily a privileged activity. According to reports by U.Today, none of the notes contains attorney-client communications, which is why they are not shielded from production.

However, Judge Sarah Netburn also allowed the SEC to redact portions of notes that reflect the staff’s deliberations or communications.

Also, recall that in late March, the SEC filed a motion for the Judge to allow the redaction of some of the notes taken during some meetings with third parties.