Jul
13
Written by:
William Lutz
7/13/2010 3:55 PM
Attorney General Greg Abbott and Solicitor General James Ho defended the Texas Open Meetings Act from attack by a handful of city officials. The city officials argue that parts of the Open Meetings Act violate their First Amendment Rights. Ho filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas defending the state’s open government laws.
Click here to read the entire brief.“Openness in government is a First Amendment virtue, not a First Amendment violation,” the brief states. “The fundamental purpose of the First Amendment is to enable and empower people to engage in free, robust discourse about their government, its officials, and the policies they adopt on their behalf. Open meetings laws thus further, rather than frustrate, fundamental First Amendment values, by educating the public about the conduct and content of public business. Indeed, courts have frequently invoked the First Amendment itself to require public access to certain government proceedings.”