City of Fort Thomas v. Cincinnati Enquirer

Opinion of the Court by

Justice ABRAMSON.

The Kentucky Open Records Act (“ORA” or “the Act”), Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 61.870 to 61.884, provides in general for the “free and open examination of public records.” KRS 61.871. Because the General Assembly has deemed the open examination of some records not to be in the public interest, however, the ORA also provides for exceptions to that general rule of openness. One such exception, the so-called law enforcement exemption, appears at KRS 61.878(l)(h) and, in pertinent part, excludes from the Act’s disclosure provisions “[r]ecords of law…