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Governments Turn Tables By Suing Public Records Requesters (apnews.com)

schwit1 quotes the AP: Government bodies are increasingly turning the tables on citizens who seek public records that might be embarrassing or legally sensitive. Instead of granting or denying their requests, a growing number of school districts, municipalities and state agencies have filed lawsuits against people making the requests -- taxpayers, government watchdogs and journalists who must then pursue the records in court at their own expense.

The lawsuits generally ask judges to rule that the records being sought do not have to be divulged. They name the requesters as defendants but do not seek damage awards. Still, the recent trend has alarmed freedom-of-information advocates, who say it's becoming a new way for governments to hide information, delay disclosure and intimidate critics. "This practice essentially says to a records requester, 'File a request at your peril,'" said University of Kansas journalism professor Jonathan Peters, who wrote about the issue for the Columbia Journalism Review in 2015, before several more cases were filed. "These lawsuits are an absurd practice and noxious to open government."

2 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Face it America ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Face it America, you're all fucked.

    Your beloved Constitution is being used to wipe the asses of those in power. Your beloved Republic ceases to exist when your politicians act like facists. Your beloved freedoms don't exist when they stop applying and you stop fighting for them, and when your own President doesn't seem to know or care what they are. You sure as fuck are no better than the places you're at war with, because you have religions believing they should determine what everyone should be allowed to do. Your Christian minority would like nothing more than a theocracy while pretending to want freedom.

    So, cower in your homes, whine about how you're all ineffectual losers, and accept that you're a society in decline who no longer occupy the place in the world you believe you do.

    Simpering pussies, just curl up and die and leave the rest of us in peace already, will you?

    Fucking pathetic country you've become, still thinking you're the moral leaders of the world, when you have an idiot with small hands, a small penis, and no fucking clue as the leader of your country.

    The day will come when you find you no longer have allies who give a shit about your notions of being the greatest nation on the planet.

  2. Re:Drain this f&ing swamp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    YOU ARE SUPPORTING A TRAITOR. Donald Trump is obviously NOT the American hero he pretended to be, and only IDIOTS believed him at any point. He's a con man. You fell for it. Sure, blame Obama.

    You thought DONALD TRUMP THE CON MAN was going to make things LESS CORRUPT, lol.

    IDIOT.

    He basically has the former staff of Goldman Sachs RUNNING THE COUNTRY NOW. He's PARDONING criminals. He's picking fights with the fucking NFL, because black people.

    FUCK YOU FOR PRETENDING HE IS SOMEHOW NOT DOING EXACTLY WHAT HE INTENDED TO DO.