Alaska sunshine lawsuits
From Sunshine Review
Here is a list of major FOIA court decisions and their affect on the Alaska Public Records Act.
(The cases are listed alphabetically. To order them by year please click the icon below the Year heading)
| Article | Year | Precedent |
|---|---|---|
| Anchorage School District v. Anchorage Daily News | 1989 | Any confidentiality clause within a settlement of which the state is a party is unenforceable because it violates the Alaska Public Records Act. |
| Capital Information Group v. Office of the Governor | 1996 | This case estblished that actions on the part of the legislature could factor into the balancing test to determine if the public interest overrules the executive deliberative process privilege. |
| City of Kenai v. Kenai Peninsula Newspapers | 1982 | 1.) The Alaska Public Records Act was designed to apply to municipalities as well as state institutions.
2.) When considering whether to grant an exemption, the courts must always weight the public benefit of disclosure against the justification and benefit to the city or individuals from non-disclosure. |
| Doe v. Superior Court | 1986 | 1.) This case established the deliberative process exemption and executive privilege as implicit in the Alaskan constitution based on the separation of powers. 2.) This case also established that by exercising one's right to petition the government, an individual forgoes any right to privacy with regard to that position. |
| Fuller v. City of Homer | 2003 | This case established that the deliberative process exemption could apply to municipalities, given that the municipalities in question met all the criteria for the exemption. |
| Gwich'in Steering Committee v. Office of the Governor | 2000 | This case merely affirmed the established procedures for examining deliberative process disputes and strengthened the deliberative process exemption within the office of the governor. |
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