Two-hundred and forty-eight years ago, the founding fathers, as we commemorated this past Thursday, met to outline their case for independence from Great Britain.

It was an effort that culminated not only in America’s independence, but in its commitment to a Constitutional order — to a system that enshrined the rights of men and women.

Among those rights is due process — that when the government accuses men and women of crimes, they have the right to public proceedings in which they hold the state to a standard of proving their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Reflecting on this holiday, we remain deeply troubled by recent court proceedings in Lycoming County.

Too often, charges and related documentation are being sealed. At least twice, charges were unsealed only to be re-sealed less than a day later.

As defense attorneys told the Sun-Gazette several weeks ago, as the unfortunate situation seemed to be on track to becoming more entrenched.

We fear this trend shifts the balance of justice in ways our founding fathers, 248 years ago, recognized were untenable for the liberty of men and women and for the accountability of a government which answers to them.

We hope Lycoming County’s courts can reassure the public that the role of transparency and accountability are not being forgotten or maligned. We believe easing this alarming tendency to sealing charges and affidavits will be a crucial first step in demonstrating that Washington, Jefferson and their fellow patriots understood correctly that a new nation did not need to fear empowering the people to defend themselves.

Rather, we all — then and now — need to be vigilant in empowering the government to level charges without public, even-handed scrutiny.