A coalition of national and regional newspapers have piled into a legal brief attacking Virginia’s two-road system of access to court records where one privileged group can review the records online while the press and public are cut off.
Virginia’s court clerks sell access to court records online to pad their budgets which are initially set by the Legislature of the Virginia Commonwealth. They allow lawyers to sign up and then give access to government officials for free.
But they deny access to news reporters and all others. The Virginia Attorney General is defending the policy with the argument that internet bots might look for private information if access is opened up.
