The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday that "show cause" hearings should be held in public for 28 alleged customers of a high-end sex ring, rejecting a request by some of the defendants to keep the initial proceedings secret.

Court hearings for alleged high-profile customers of a Massachusetts brothel network will be open to the public.

The state’s high court ruled Thursday that the initial court hearings for 28 men accused of being customers of a high-end brothel will be open to the public when they are held in Cambridge District Court. The Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling upheld a previous decision from a clerk-magistrate.

The names of the 28 people accused of buying sex from a high-end brothel network have not been made public. The post Hearings for alleged clients of Boston-area brothel ring will be public, SJC rules appeared first on Boston.

The initial court hearings for 28 “wealthy and well-connected” men accused of being customers of an interstate commercial sex ring that ran high-end brothels will be open to the public, the state’s highest court ruled Thursday.

These types of hearings are not typically held in open court. But there is a legitimate public concern that if the hearings were held behind closed doors, justice may not be served, the court ruled.

The alleged customers of the high-end brothel included politicians, corporate executives, doctors, military officers, lawyers, professors and scientists, officials said.