McLarty v. Board of Regents

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McLarty vs. Board of Regents Number: none Year: 1973 State: Georgia Court: {{{Court}}} Other lawsuits in Georgia Other lawsuits in 1973 Precedents include:

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Deliberative Process Exemption

McLarty v. Board of Regents was a case before the Georgia Supreme Court in 1973 concerning open meetings laws.

Background

The suit was brought against the Board of regents for access to committee meetings of faculty members and students of the University of Georgia. The Dean of Student Affairs organized the committee to review allocation of Student Activity Funds.

The Court and the trial court (Barrow, J.) ruled that such "advisory groups" do not fall under the Act and they may be closed. However, the Act has been amended to expressly include agency committees since this ruling.

For the first time the Court stressed the importance of the Act:

"What the law seeks to eliminate are closed meetings which engender in the people a distrust of its officials who are clothed with the power to act in their name. It declares that the people, who possess ultimate sovereignty under our form of government, are entitled to observe the actions of those described bodies when exercising the power delegated to them to act on behalf of the people in the name of the State."

External links

• Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
• Text of the case