By Karen Blumenthal
Opinion piece in The Dallas Morning News
Originally published March 8, 2020
Getting state and local government records of any kind, especially those of a famous legal case that is nearly 50 years old, should not require a lawyer or a bucket of cash. The state’s Public Information Act is supposed to compel state and local governmental bodies to release records to those who request them within 10 business days. That kind of transparency is crucial to an open society and trust and accountability in government.
But in recent years, accessing these documents has gotten harder and more expensive and often takes longer than it should.