By Gabe Bullard
Frankfort, KY – A recent Kentucky Attorney General's office decision about the Open Records Act stemming from a Paducah case is unlikely to have larger ramifications. A man was denied court documents by a district clerk and appealed the case as a violation of the Open Records Act, but Attorney General Jack Conway's office declared this week that court records are not subject to the act, since the courts are not under the jurisdiction of the legislature. But attorney Jon Fleischaker says that's irrelevant, because court documents are always open unless the court closes them.
"What's important to understand is that there are constitutional rights to judicial records and it is the constitutional right to court records that is really stronger than our open records law."
Fleischaker says the man should've appealed the decision as a constitutional law violation instead.