BALTIMORE — Maryland’s highest court is scheduled to consider arguments Friday on whether to release the names of more than a dozen people — mostly current and former clergy members — whose identities were concealed in the public version of a disturbing report released in 2023, chronicling sexual abuse within the Baltimore Archdiocese over decades.

The public arguments follow two years of secret court proceedings over releasing the names, which are blacked out in the Maryland Attorney General’s Office’s report. The lengthy document outlines sexual abuse and torture perpetrated by local diocesan clergy and staff on more than 600 children and young adults dating back to the 1940s.

None of the 14 anonymous archdiocese officials fighting the release of their names had been identified as a perpetrator of abuse in the report, though the Attorney General’s Office found that they either inadequately or inappropriately responded to allegations of abuse.

The Baltimore Sun previously published five of their names, identifying them as high-ranking officials within Baltimore’s Catholic Church, weeks after the initial report was released with those names and roughly three dozen others redacted. A Baltimore judge later ordered all but three of the 46 redacted names in the report to be released, though that decision has been on hold for more than two years due to appeals from some of those with redacted names.

In addition to the 14 people connected to the Archdiocese, four more people are appealing their names’ release, though unsealed court records only refer to them as “individuals.” A revised report released in September 2023 revealed the names of others who did not appeal. Two of the remaining redacted names are listed as abusers.

Friday’s hearing is the first public court proceeding in the matter, as the appeals have played out behind closed doors. Many court records related to the case remain under seal, though lawyers agreed late last month to unseal several documents that give context to the private hearings. Survivors of sexual abuse within the diocese have advocated for a fully unredacted version of the report to be released publicly.

“It’s hard to know what’s happening, because they want to keep everything secret,” said Teresa Lancaster, an attorney and survivor of sexual abuse at her alma mater, Archbishop Keough High School.

The clergy members arguing for their names to remain blacked out, represented by downtown Baltimore-based Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, say that their names should not be publicized because the Attorney General’s Office conducted its four-year investigation of sex abuse within the Baltimore Archdiocese via grand jury. Those proceedings are generally kept secret, especially in regards to people who aren’t charged with a crime.

“Petitioners here are not accused of sexual abuse, but instead were identified in the [r]eport because [the Attorney General’s Office] deemed them culpable for various and sometimes obscure reasons, including the [office’s] perception that they did not do enough to stop the abuse,” attorneys for the clergy members wrote in their May brief in the Maryland Supreme Court.

The church paid for the legal team that has fought for the men’s names to be redacted before the report’s public release, but denies their names are being redacted at the Archdiocese’s request. The team includes former Baltimore State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein.

A spokesperson for the Baltimore Archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon asking whether the church was still involved in bankrolling the legal team. The church said in 2022 that it did not oppose the public release of the report but confirmed that it was paying the lawyers to represent people who had not been accused of abuse and did not have an opportunity to respond to investigators.

Bernstein, who is scheduled to present arguments Friday on behalf of the current and former clergy members, declined to comment. Spokespeople for the Attorney General’s Office also declined to comment.

Maryland lawmakers removed the statute of limitations on sexual abuse claims by passing the Child Victims Act shortly after the report’s 2023 public release, which recommended the state adopt such a law. The archdiocese declared bankruptcy shortly before the law took effect, temporarily blocking lawsuits, though up to a thousand victims have filed claims against the church. Survivors filed a motion to dismiss the bankruptcy case on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Anthony Brown has pledged to have his office investigate clergy abuse in other dioceses that operate in Maryland. Survivors have called for the state’s top lawyer to deliver reports on abuse within the Archdiocese of Washington, which has parishes in five Maryland counties, and the Diocese of Wilmington, which serves the Eastern Shore.

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