By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Key Points
- Judges says attorney general illegally withheld information in seeking indictments
- Case targeted so-called fake electors seeking to overturn Trump loss in the 2000 election
- Mayes claimed documents were protected by Public Records law
Attorney General Kris Mayes acted illegally when she withheld certain information about communications her office had with States United Democracy Center, a group that provided information on how she could bring charges against “fake electors,” the state Court of Appeals has ruled.
The judges said that Mayes, in seeking to keep some documents from Judicial Watch, argued that they were protected by attorney-client privilege and fell into the area of being a work product — both of which are generally exempt from the state’s Public Records Law.
But the court said that Mayes, in making that claim, was required to produce an index of the documents withheld that is sufficient to show that she did not have to surrender them. And appellate Judge Jeffrey Sklar, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, said that Mayes failed to do this.
The new ruling does not mean that Mayes will now have to turn over the documents to Judicial Watch, which describes itself as a “conservative nonpartisan educational foundation” that uses state and national public records law to investigate government activities. Its focus in part is on what it sees as election integrity and voter registration issues.
