ST. PAUL — When Gov. Mark Dayton, top legislators and other public officials head into a federal courthouse next month to discuss Minnesota’s embattled sex offender program, the assembly will be closed to the public.

U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank issued an order late Wednesday that the Aug. 10 prehearing conference will be private under a court rule used to facilitate scheduling or possible settlement discussions. The judge said the setup was needed “to allow the court to hear and assess remedy proposals” ahead of a standard hearing in a later phase. The case involves the lockup of 700 dangerous sex offenders in a treatment program that Frank has declared unconstitutional but one that lawmakers have been hesitant to modify.

As part of a June ruling, the state officials were summoned by the judge to begin discussing alternatives to a program state lawyers have argued is legitimate. As many as two dozen elected officials, state agency leaders and attorneys for the sex offenders have been invited to participate. Dayton is delaying his trip to Mexico to attend, and said this week he presumed the conference would be public.

“It should be open, but it’s not my call to make,” the governor said.

Mark Anfinson, an attorney for the Minnesota Newspaper Association, said the involvement of so many top officials on an important policy matter makes the conference itself unusual and the decision to keep the public and reporters out questionable.