Manns v. City of Charleston Police Department

(Filed July 24, 2001)

I write separately to clarify an important point about the FOIA request at issue in the instant case, and to emphasize what a narrow holding this Court’s opinion in this case represents. I also write to explain further why this Court, which has issued many opinions that strongly support access to public records, has declined in the instant case to sustain the lower court’s order that required compliance with the appellee’s FOIA request.

First, it should be noted that there is some uncertainty with respect to exactly what the appellee’s FOIA request was seeking. According…