For more than five years, Americans have been told that January 6 was among the most thoroughly investigated events in our nation’s history. Thousands of hours of surveillance footage were collected. Millions of pages of documents were produced. One of the largest criminal investigations in Department of Justice history unfolded in federal courtrooms across Washington, D.C.
Yet one question has persisted:
Why can’t the American people see the evidence for themselves?
That question is now squarely before a federal judge.
On Friday, attorney Roger I. Roots and paralegal Emily Lambert of The Ticktin Law Group filed a motion on behalf of January 6 defendant Dominic Pezzola asking the court to lift the sweeping protective order that has restricted public access to much of the government’s January 6 discovery.
The motion asks not only that the protective order be dissolved, but that the government’s Evidence.com and Relativity databases be preserved and ultimately made available for journalists, historians, researchers, and the American people to examine.
The filing rests on a straightforward proposition: transparency strengthens confidence in the justice system. It cites longstanding Supreme Court precedent recognizing a presumptive right of public access to criminal proceedings and judicial records and argues that circumstances have changed dramatically since the protective orders were first entered in 2021.
Hellbound and Down 