Amicus Briefs and Letters 2011

O’Connell v. George W. Prescott Pub. Co., LLC. (Mass. 2011)

“The public has a right to view materials filed in support of search warrant applications after they have been returned to the court. This right is historical under common law, reflects First Amendment rights, and is presumptive under Massachusetts G.L. c. 276 §2B.”

Union Leader Corp. v. New Hampshire Retirement System (N.H. 2011)

“The Superior Court correctly ruled that RSA 91-A:4,I-a requires disclosure of the names of the 500 Retirement System members who received the highest annual pensions in 2009 and the amount of those pensions. Because the statute favors disclosures, the Court construes it broadly. The statute requires to be ‘available for public inspection’ ‘[a]ll records of payments’ to ‘an employee of any public body’ upon ‘retirement of the employee.’ Records of payments in 2009 to the 500 retirees fall squarely within the statute’s clearly-stated scope.”