Miscellaneous

You've Got Mail, and The Sheriff Wants to See It

By Anne Skove, Esq.

When must court e-mail be turned over? What if the local sheriff asks to see them?

This is the situation in Maricopa County, where Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants access to e-mails between court employees and a judge regarding the sheriff's limitations on visitation hours for inmates.

The sheriff and court administration are currently in talks.

Rules on this topic are unclear, often difficult to find, and even more difficult to interpret. Legislators and free speech advocates tend to leave documents related to court administration out of the mix when pondering access to government. These items don't fall under the court documents category, as they are unrelated to individual cases; nor do they necessarily fall under government sunshine-type laws.

We think this is so because few realize that courts perform these tasks. The mainstream view is that judges hear cases, any meetings are between parties and judges, and courts are simply buildings in which these things take place. Court administration is just not a concept for the general public.

See Sheriff Arpaio Petitions for Court's E-Mail, J.J. Hensley, Arizona Republic (January 29, 2009).

For the sake of pot/kettle/black, see also Records Must Be Released in Timely Fashion, Court Rules, News Media Update (February 8, 2009).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).