The Ohio Supreme Court on May 27 dealt a blow to groups seeking public documents from statewide officials, making it harder to fight when a government office denies a records request.
In 2020, a watchdog group, Center for Media & Democracy, asked Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost for records related to his involvement with the Republican Attorneys General Association and the Rule of Law Defense Fund.
Yost delivered some records, decided other documents weren’t public and said some didn’t exist. The Center for Media & Democracy didn’t believe that to be true, so it sued for the right to conduct broad discovery, asking Yost questions under oath and requiring documents to be produced.
The 10th District Court of Appeals gave the Center for Media & Democracy the right to broad discovery, but the Ohio Supreme Court said that was a mistake. The courts can’t grant discovery that will become a back door to getting the requested records, the high court said.
The supreme court said that the lower court focused too much on Yost’s relationship with the outside groups rather than on whether the records document functions of the AG’s office.
Justice Jennifer Brunner, the only Democrat on the seven-member court, dissented, saying the majority opinion could weaken enforcement of the public records law.
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@usatodayco.com and @lbischoff on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Supreme Court makes it harder to challenge denied public records requests
Reporting by Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
