As many already know, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle yesterday issued a preliminary injunction   prohibiting release of the names and addresses of those who signed Referendum 71 petitions, despite public records requests for them. The Attorney General’s Office announced today that the State will appeal Judge Settle’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. We do not yet know the timeline for the appeal.

We support the decision to appeal this case (Doe v. Reed). Our office has followed the state law that says referendum petitions are public records and thus should be made available upon request. We believe in open government and think Judge Settle’s decision is a step away from open government. When people sign a referendum or initiative petition, they are trying to change state law. We believe that changing state law should be open to public view. The petition sheets are the first stage of changing state law that, once submitted to the Secretary of State, become public records subject to the Public Records Act.

We hope the Ninth Circuit will agree with us in this case and allow the petitions to be released. If Judge Settle’s ruling stands, we are very concerned that it could set a dangerous precedent that  sponsors of future initiatives or referenda might use to prevent their petition sheets from being made available to the public, even though they are government documents.