Open Records

Overall consensus of candidates: Judges’ e-mails fair game.

There’s a lively dispute in West Virginia about whether e-mails of judges–especially West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard–should be subject to FOIA. The Associated Press is pushing the issue via a lawsuit after initial denials from Maynard’s office.

This calls to mind what Thomas Moyer, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court said back in February. What Judge Moyer said a few short months ago is that that the Ohio judiciary is not now, and never has been, subject to Ohio’s laws governing access to public documents.