Parsons Behle & Latimer First Amendment and Media attorney Michael Judd will once again represent The Salt Lake Tribune and investigative reporter Jessica Miller in an appeal filed May 28 by the Utah Attorney General's office. The lawsuit seeks to keep Attorney General Sean Reyes' official calendar private.
In December 2023, Miller filed an open records request for several years' of Reyes' calendars. The request was denied, and Miller appealed to the State Records Committee. The committee ruled unanimously in her favor. The most recent lawsuit seeks to appeal that decision.
More recently, in February 2024, Third District Court Judge Patrick Corum ruled in favor of KSL-TV investigative reporter Annie Knox who also requested Reyes' calendar and was denied. The decision makes Reyes' calendars public records under the state's open records law. The day of the ruling, the Legislature passed SB240 that makes all public officials' calendars private.
Judge Corum will be hearing the attorney general's latest lawsuit brought against Miller and the committee. Judd says, referring to the State Records Committee rulings and Judge Corum's ruling in the KSL case, "...the A.G.'s office has already had three bites at the apple ... and they won't take three 'No's' for an answer."
Read The Salt Lake Tribune article here to learn more about this precedent-setting matter.