Hope to See You in Court, Tom Carpenter

In yesterday's post, I discussed the vacuousness of the City of Little Rock's argument that using a phone to copy a public record isn't permitted by the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  The Court of Appeals aptly held that phone copies are indeed copies that are covered by the FOIA.  The Court cited to my co-authored treatise, the Arkansas FOIA, on this very point.

In learning about the case months ago, I filed for amicus status with the Court of Appeals to argue in favor of plaintiff Ben Motal's well justified position.  The Court canceled arguments due to the pandemic.  As such, my motion was moot, and, alas, I didn't get to say in open court how ridiculous the City's position has been from the outset.  The City's argument is not only contrary to the plain language of the statute, it's wholly inconsistent with the legislatively provided interpretive guidance written into the law itself:  The FOIA is to be interpreted broadly to give full effect to citizens' right to transparent government.

But on a twist of the maxim that fortune favors the bold, Tom Carpenter has decided to boldly go where no man has gone before:  to the Arkansas Supreme Court seeking to overturn a near unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals properly interpreting a simple, yet important, provision of the FOIA.  Tom's good fortune is that there is some chance that he'll see me arguing against his position in court, as I'll again file my amicus request, this time to argue in favor of the Court of Appeals well reasoned opinion. 

And, Tom, I'll gladly buy you a steak at Doe's Steakhouse, near City Hall, if you win in the Supreme Court.  I think my wallet will be safe, though. 

The real tragedy, however, is that while my streak-buying money isn't going anywhere, my tax dollars, and those of all Little Rockers (is that right?), are being further wasted by bureau-hacks more interested in interfering with open and good government than serving the public who pay their often bloated salaries.  But what does Tom Carpenter care?  After all, it's not his money that he's burning.  It's yours.