Amicus Brief: CSI Joins Amicus Brief in Doe v. InformData, LLC

The Clean Slate Initiative along with Community Legal Services and Responsible Business Initiative for Justice filed an amicus brief in Doe v. InformData, LLC, a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that examines whether background check companies may continue reporting criminal records that have been pardoned, sealed, or expunged under state law.

The brief argues that once a state has determined a record should no longer be publicly available, consumer reporting agencies should not continue treating that information as public under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Allowing sealed records to remain visible through background checks would undermine the purpose of Clean Slate laws and weaken states' authority to determine when a person has earned relief from the long-term consequences of a record.

Clean Slate laws are designed to remove barriers to employment, housing, education, and other opportunities for people who have completed their sentence and remained crime-free. If sealed records continue to appear in background checks, those barriers can persist even after the law says they should not.

By filing this amicus brief, The Clean Slate Initiative supports the principle that record sealing should provide meaningful relief and that states' decisions to seal eligible records should be respected.