Michigan court ruling on privacy may hurt public's right to know

opinion from the Detroit Free Press:

In one of the last acts of its short-lived Democratic majority, the Michigan Supreme Court did some potential damage to the public's right to know, in a ruling about the privacy of what public employees do on public time with publicly provided communications systems.

The court ought to reconsider this decision before somebody tries to hide behind it to thwart the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, a law that's intended to make sure the public can know how public business is being conducted and whether public office is being abused.

The Supreme Court voted 4-3 on Dec. 29 -- with Democrats, including one lame duck, forming the majority -- not to review a Court of Appeals decision denying public access to e-mails that Howell Public Schools employees sent on the district's computer system.

Read the rest here.