Prof. Kirtley Predicts MN Supreme Court Ruling May "Cause a Lot of Mischief"

Professor Jane Kirtley was quoted in an Associated Press story on a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling holding that a private business working on a school district project is not required to make subcontractor data public under the state Data Practices Act. She stated that the high court's decision "has the potential to cause lots of mischief." Chief Justice Lorie Gildea wrote that the open records law does not require public access to contracts between two private businesses that are working for the government, even if they are performing a government function. Justices Alan Page ('78) and Wilhelmina Wright, although agreeing with the outcome in this case, wrote that if a private company is performing a public function, the records should be public, and that any other interpretation of the statute would "lead[] to absurd results."