Tennessee Bar Association Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

Proposed rule change could erode access to court records, lawyers say

By Deborah Fisher|2017-04-25T07:44:42-05:00April 24, 2017|Categories: court records|Tags: court records, Doug Pierce, John Williams, Rick Hollow, Robb Harvey, Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, Tennessee Bar Association, Tennessee Supreme Court|0 Comments

Some of the state’s leading news media attorneys are concerned that a proposed expansion of rules on public access to court records in Tennessee is overly broad and could erode access at the trial court level. The proposed change to the Tennessee Supreme Court rules would expand exemptions to the lower courts with language that one lawyer says is "vague to the point of potential constitutional infirmity." (Gavel illustration by www.weisspaarz.com, licensed under CC BY SA-2.0) The Tennessee Supreme Court has proposed changing Rule 34 “Policies and Guidelines Regarding Appellate Judicial Records,” which defines certain court records not open for inspection, such as unpublished drafts of judicial orders and [...]

Broadcasters, others comment on Rule 30 proposal

Deborah Tate, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, and Michele Wojciechowski, spokesperson for the AOC, address the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in April about proposed changes to Rule 30, which governs media coverage in courtrooms. Moderated by WPLN's Blake Farmer, chapter president. Tennessee broadcasters and others have filed comments with the Tennessee Supreme Court on its proposed changes to Rule 30, which governs media coverage in courtrooms. The deadline to file comments is this Friday. The court so far has posted on its website 11 comments on the Rule 30 proposal submitted from organizations and individuals, including: Tennessee Association of Broadcasters WMC Action 5 [...]