The records in the Bristol Palin/Levi Johnston custody battle should be sealed.

Court documents are public records. Do we really want internet access to all court records. Do you want anyone with an internet connection to have access to the files in your divorce case? Do you realize how much personal stuff you might have to disclose in a lawsuit? Do you realize how many lies can be aimed at you by opposing counsel and their client?

While all this stuff is of course available now, forcing someone to go down to the courthouse to ask for the files and look at them there certainly filters a considerable amount of junk from public disclosure.

In a certain way, the issues raised by these questions are relevant to the piece by Ruth Marcus in which she struggles with her own internal conflict over whether the court hearing the custody battle between Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston should seal the records, thereby keeping them from the eyes of journalists (and, indirectly, from the public at large:

As a journalist, I’m supposed to be in favor of maximum access to court documents. As a human being—and in particular as a mother—I have a hard time seeing why the custody fight between Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston ought to be splayed out on the public record for all to see. An Alaska judge has denied Palin’s request to keep the dispute under seal. How can this possibly be in the best interests of the child?

I happen to agree with Marcus’ view as a mother. As she also writes, the “question in the case is whether Bristol Palin’s request for sole legal and physical custody of her son—with Johnston given visitation rights—should be granted.” The evidence regarding that request, which no doubt will include allegations of outrageousness from both sides, turns on the best interests of the child. It’s certainly in the best interests of the child that there not be a full public record of these allegations. And I frankly see no public interest outweighing that interest.

But it makes sense that the Palin/Johnston case is fought out over a request by one party to seal the record — Bristol Palin knows reporters will be down at the courthouse ready to broadcast the allegations set forth in any document filed. What about you? Do you know who’s going to be trolling through the files in your case from his laptop off in some coffee shop a thousand miles away?