CA Judicial Council Spells Info Request Terms

The Alliance judges point to the language of Rule 10.500 that went into effect in January 2010, saying the rule should be broadly interpreted to give all citizens access to public information.

At Friday's meeting of the Judicial Council, Justice Harry Hull argued that the staff was flummoxed by many of the questions, such as how many days former judges Roger Warren and Leonard Edwards worked as "scholars-in-residence" for the judicial branch.

At first glance, the question of how many days a particular person worked for a public agency might not seem overwhelming.

The question concerned a program that paid substantial salaries to "scholars," whose precise work was unclear. It was attacked by the Alliance judges as a waste of money when trial courts were cutting their operations to the bone in the face of the governor's budget cuts.

"Last spring, it became known to some of us on the Council that the AOC did not really know how to handle some of the requests that have been coming to them and how to respond to certain requests," Hull said during the council meeting.

He said the questions asked staff to justify council and administrative staff policies, so Hull then took on the job of answering them.

An example of a question that was referred to Justice Hull was one from retired Judge Horan who asked, "I have been told the AOC will reimburse appellate justices 300 to attend the CJA conference this year. Is that true."

"Is AOC also reimbursing for judges," asked Horan. He also wanted to know who made the decision.

The conference has been a forum for debate on policies of the court bureaucracy and the council, and those who attend would influence the tenor and outcome of those sometimes heated discussions. Horan's inquiry ultimately sought to find out if some of those attending the conference were favored with travel expenses.

His questions, most calling for yes or no replies, were not answered.

During Friday's council session, Judge O'Malley of Contra Costa County, a council member who worked on the original information access Rule 10.500, defended the new guidelines.

"These requests when posted to staff were really difficult to determine," she said. "For instance, and this is coming from another judicial officer, it really puts staff in a very awkward position. They did try to deal with it for months and months and months. It was amazing what it was they were asking for; some were possibly legitimate requests and some I could not see any logic whatsoever in the request. It got to the point of absurdity. It really did."

Chad Finke, Director of the AOC's Court Programs and Services Division, said, "As Justice Hull pointed out at some point or other, not only did the amount of time become an issue, but the issue came up -- is this really appropriate for staff to be responding to these types of questions?"

The council will revisit the new method in six months, as suggested by Judge Ira Kaufman of Plumas County, to determine whether judges are getting the information they need.

Reacting to the new guidelines, Lampe suggested the council should have instead kept it simple.

"The council should simply adopt a policy that says, 'all staff of the AOC shall respond to requests for information, not privileged, from any constitutional judicial officer as soon as can be reasonably accomplished," said Lampe, "and to keep the requesting judge informed of the process of gathering information if there will be a delay.' "

Horan also said the process did not need to be complicated.

"This could be worked out if they behave reasonably and really try to be transparent. This was never an insurmountable problem."

Horan said that since its adoption, the council has interpreted Rule 10.500 "very narrowly with a view toward withholding information." He added, "They've not been interpreting that rule the way it was meant."

He accepted the AOC's complaint that some questions were beyond its purview, such as "questions as to the Judicial Council's mental processes," but noted there were many requests that staff could have answered and didn't, particularly if they originated with the Alliance.

Horan said the attitude of council and AOC leadership, including director Judge Steven Jahr, will determine the policy's success.

"It's up to them to make it happen," he said. "We're not hard to satisfy. If the Chief Justice and Judge Steve Jahr make it clear that the duty of the Judicial Council and the AOC is to fully cooperate with any lawful request for information, it will get done. It starts at the top."

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