The Supreme Court of Ohio - Supreme Court - State of Ohio

Supreme Court Protects Public Access to Court Records
M
ore than 100 years ago, drawing on a large body of law, a
Cincinnati judge first crystallized a fundamental principle
that is still a cornerstone of Ohio government. Today, Ohio
judges are working to take this important concept into the 21 st
century.
“Public records are the people’s records. The officials in
whose custody they happen to be are mere trustees for the
people ….”
So wrote Judge Rufus B. Smith of the Superior Court of
Cincinnati (a body that no longer exists) in 1901. The Supreme
Court of Ohio quoted Judge Smith verbatim when it first
adopted this universal principle of openness as statewide law in
1960. The idea was codified in statute with the passage of the
Public Records Act in 1963. It was reaffirmed in 1976 in the
foundational public records case of Dayton Newspapers v. City of
Dayton, decided by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and it remains
the bedrock of Ohio public records law to this day.
The Supreme Court of Ohio in 2008 completed an
administrative process to craft judicial rules that will maintain
this principle and keep court records open.
The rules were crafted by the Supreme Court Commission
on the Rules of Superintendence for Ohio Courts, chaired by
Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger, and they were put out for two
periods of extensive public comment that resulted in revisions
and improvements.
Among other provisions, the rules establish that
court records are presumed open and state that a
court may restrict access to a particular document
only “if it finds by clear and convincing evidence
that the presumption of allowing public access is
outweighed by a higher interest.” The rule offers
specific factors for judges to consider when weighing
the “higher interest,” including,
but not limited to, “risk of injury to
persons, individual privacy rights
and interests, proprietary business
information, public safety, and
fairness of the adjudicatory process.”
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2008 Annual Report • The Supreme Court of Ohio