By: Carl Sullivan APBnews.com Seeks Public Records On Federal Judges
Is requesting a single public record any different than requesting an entire set of them? At least one federal judge thinks so - especially if those records are going to be posted on the Web.
Judge William J. Zloch of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., blocked the release of financial disclosure forms for the nation's 1,600 federal judges after APBnews.com requested the records. ?We were apparently the only news organization that had ever asked for every single record,? said Hoag Levins, executive editor of the New York-based service.
APBnews.com planned to post all the forms on its Web site in a searchable database. That apparently made Judge Zloch and others nervous.
Since 1979, financial statements for federal judges and their family members have been public information. Attorneys and news organizations have routinely requested these documents for individual judges. The documents have been used to show where judges have had personal financial interests in cases that they presided over.
But Judge Zloch cited security concerns in turning down APBnews.com's request. The 15-member Committee on Financial Disclosure for the Judicial Conference is scheduled to meet tomorrow to review the matter. Levins said the courts refuse to say when and where the secret meeting will take place.
?One court official said we were the straw that broke the camel's back,? Levins said. ?But these records are public information. We don't see any difference between having photocopies of these records versus having the records in electronic form.?
Editor's note: Hoag Levins is the former executive editor of Editor & Publisher magazine.
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Carl Sullivan (carls@mediainfo.com) is editor of Editor & Publisher Interactive.
Related story:
Federal Judges' Disclosure Statements Withheld (from APBnews.com)
http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/1999/12/06/j
udges1_1206_01.html
(c) Copyright 1999, Editor & Publisher
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