CJ Griffin Quoted in Reuters Article on Other States Following Recent NJ Supreme Court Decision on Common Law Right to Access
CJ Griffin, Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, was quoted in the Reuters article, “A novel pathway in NJ to police misconduct records. Will other states follow?” The article discusses a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision ordering the release under common law of police internal affairs reports, even though the reports were exempt from disclosure under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act. The article notes the ruling provides important guidance for how New Jersey courts should approach the question of disclosing police records and further discusses the potential of this case, in which Griffin represented the requestor, to be used as a path for courts in other states to follow to use the common law to play a gap-filling role for public access to police records.
Rivera’s lawyer, CJ Griffin of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden PC, told me that “it’s a real possibility” for other states to adopt a similar analysis under the common law.
“New Jersey has been viewed as a leader that some other state courts are willing to follow,” Griffin said. “I would love to see courts rely more on the public interest that already exists” in the common law “to grant more access.”
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