(The Center Square) – The Liberty Justice Center will file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court over a ruling that would bar public access to Tennessee’s Judicial Advisory Commission meetings.
The legal organization filed the case on behalf of The Center Square, which challenged the commission’s practice of closing its meetings. The 6th U.S. Court of Appeals said in its ruling that the First Amendment does not guarantee public access to the commission’s meetings.
The advisory commission closed the meetings in 2018 after a meeting was disrupted by a member of the public, according to court documents.
“According to Defendant, Advisory Commission meetings are closed to the public to encourage honest and frank discussions at the meetings,” the court records said.
“Meetings on matters of public importance should be open to the public,” said Reilly Stephens, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “We’re obviously disappointed that the 6th Circuit chose to side with the public officials hiding their public duties from scrutiny, but previously open meetings cannot be removed from public view just because it’s inconvenient to those in power, and we plan to ask the Supreme Court to review this decision to make that clear once and for all.”
The Liberty Justice Center filed its initial lawsuit in June 2022 on behalf of Dan McCaleb, vice president for news and content at Franklin News Foundation, against Tennessee Administrator of Courts Director Michelle Long and the department, challenging the closure.
U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson in March 2023 issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Franklin, which publishes the national news wire The Center Square, ordering the advisory commission to keep its meetings open while the case continued.
