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Missouri Supreme Court accused of violating Sunshine Law
April 22, 2009
Missouri: The Missouri Supreme Court has been accused by watchdog group Better Courts for Missouri of violating the state's Sunshine Law. The group made a public records request for the court's policies regarding the use of public computers, e-mail systems, office supplies, vehicles or time-off requests. They also requested all of the e-mails that Supreme Court employees sent from official and personal accounts so far this year.
Supreme Court Clerk Thomas Simon responded in writing to say that the Supreme Court was not bound by its laws to provide the information requested. "Simon said the information sought by the group was not covered by the court's rules defining what is available."
Executive Director of Better Courts for Missouri James Harris disagreed, saying: "Anyone who has a position of government trust and receives taxpayer funding should be held accountable. If we allow the court to have some silly loophole or reason to skirt the Missouri Sunshine law, every other politician or state bureaucrat will look for a reason to skirt it, too".[1]
Footnotes
Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Missouri, Western District of Missouri • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Missouri, Western District of Missouri
State courts:
Missouri Supreme Court • Missouri Court of Appeals • Missouri Circuit Courts • Missouri Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Missouri • Missouri judicial elections • Judicial selection in Missouri
