Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments in a request by the state to dismiss a lawsuit against the governor over the release of public records during the COVID pandemic.
The records were released 18 months after the request when the lawsuit was filed by the Iowa ACLU on behalf of journalists seeking the records. The attorney for the governor, Eric Wessan, says the administration followed the law because it never denied the request.
Chief Justice Susan Christensen questions if this approach could require anyone who requested open records to eventually hire a lawyer to get an agency to comply.
The attorney for the ACLU, Thomas Story, says the state should not be allowed to stall and force a lawsuit.
Wessan says it’s an important part of democracy. Wessan says the governor’s office gave very little response to the records request other than to acknowledged they received the request. He says there should be some reason given for not producing the records.
He says the strategy was to delay and force a lawsuit.
The Supreme Court will issue its ruling at a later date.
