In the brief filed in the Supreme Court on July 2, Huesman, who represents the Fitial administration, said it is important to remember that “there is no case the government knows of, and certainly no case the trial court or Sablan cited that rebuts the idea that the documents Sablan seeks are not only exempt but that disclosure would harm not only this litigation but litigation going forward.”
Huesman is referring to the lawsuit filed by the governor against the U.S. over the federalization law.
Huesman said in reaching its “erroneous decision,” the trial court “impermissibly shifted the burden of the ‘clearly unnecessary’ test” to the administration.”
“There is only one case on point, and the trial court ignored it in favor of cases that are not analogous,” Huesman said.
He said “it is the plaintiff or Sablan’s burden to demonstrate that it is objectively unreasonable to withhold the documents…and it was improper for the trial court to shift the burden in this case, therefore the trial court’s decision must be reversed.”
The Supreme Court will hear the motion for reconsideration filed by Sablan at 10 a.m. on July 8, 2009.
Sablan on June 26 filed her motion asking the high court to lift the stay on the disclosure of the federalization lawsuit documents.
She said the Open Government Act provides that stays on disclosure “shall not be granted unless the court determines that there is a substantial probability that opening the records for inspection will result in significant damage.”
Sablan, who represents herself, must file her brief by July 10.
On June 18, Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman ordered the administration to release over 30 documents to Sablan within 48 hours.
Huesman filed a motion for stay pending appeal which Wiseman denied on June 19.
On the same day, however, the Supreme Court granted the petition for a stay of Wiseman’s orders.
Sablan said had the stay not been granted, the administration would have had to turn over the records within 48 hours, or by June 20, as required by the Open Government Act.
