APBNews.com, an online news service devoted to crime reporting, will sue the federal judiciary Thursday, accusing the judiciary of discrimination against online news for blocking access to public records.
The suit comes a week after the committee overseeing judicial matters turned APBNews down in its request for financial disclosure records of all federal judges, says CNET.
The judges said they feared the Internet's vast readership would pose security risks. But the records are supposed to be available to the public and have already been issued to such newspapers as the Wall Street Journal (which circulates internationally) and the Kansas City Star - newspapers who are also accessible on the Internet, incidentally.
APBNews's Washington attorney, Mark Zaid, tells CNET Congress made "clear" in its legislation that the reports are, indeed, public records. "Until these records are released as Congress intended," he says, "a dark cloud will hang over what has historically been perhaps the most revered and distinguished branch of our government."
The suit targets the fifteen judges on the Committee on Financial Disclosure of the Judicial Conference, the Administrative Office of the United States Court, and the U.S. Marshal's Office, CNET says.
"This is a fight to gain access to public records for all Internet users," says APB Online Inc.'s chief operating officer, Mark Sauter, on the APBNews Web site. "The Internet is not just a legitimate but a superior means to disseminate these documents to the public."
