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More than a month old but....

 


No, this is not breaking news, (despite my choice of illustration), but it IS fascinating.  And if you missed it (as I would suppose many of you did, as I certainly did) last month, you might be willing to pick up on the matter now.

https://www.rcfp.org/briefs-comments/commonwealth-of-virginia-v-sawye/

The Governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, has had the state take an appeal from a trial court order that ordered the disclosure of certain records relating to an emailed tip line. 

What I've linked you to above is an amicus brief from the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press. The underlying lawsuit was brought by American Oversight by the law firm Ballard Spahr. 

It concerns the issue of how state FOIA's ought to be interpreted. "As broadly as the language will bear" would seem a reasonable answer to that question: would it not? 

If you believe so, then you should want the trial court decision in this matter upheld. 

A little background -- the "tip line" is not (as that term may suggest) a telephone number. It is an email address that parents are encouraged to use if they find that their children are being taught negative things ("inherently divisive concepts") in the public schools. The goal seems to be that of developing touching stories that can be used as part of the broader push to jejune-ize the teaching of US history. We'll be back to Parson Weems' tales of George Washington as a boy if this sort of evisceration of any serious study of the subject prevails.

Transparency-activist Heather Sawyer, executive director of American Oversight, quite sensibly wanted to find out how exactly this tip line was working, and filed a sweeping VFOIA request. The Governor's office refused to turn over the phone logs, leaving Sawyer to bring this suit. 

Good for her. Let us keep track of this one. Here is the press release from Ballard Spahr.

https://www.ballardspahr.com/Insights/News/2022/08/Ballard-Spahr-Media-Lawyers-Represent-Watchdog-Group-in-Teacher-Tip-Line-FOIA-Case

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  1. Paul D. Van PeltSeptember 21, 2023 at 7:18 AM

    Obfuscation continues ( more or less unabated) into the new millennium. I think back on things I DID NOT learn in school, because the *proper authorities* did not want me to learn them. Embarrassments to democracy and other such lapses of due diligence and responsibility. I could write a factual essay on it now, but the point would be rendered moot, the essay would never see publication, and those proper authorities could find other ways to make life miserable. I make no mistake about that.

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