More and more states are shielding the home addresses of judges and other public employees following attacks or threats made against them.
FILE - News media sets up in front of the home of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas on July 20, 2020, in North Brunswick, N.J. Following threats and attacks on public officials, state lawmakers across the U.S. have stepped up efforts to shield personal information from being publicly disclosed about judges, police, elected officeholders and various public employees. – Following threats and attacks on public officials, state lawmakers across the U.S.
That's led to a split assessment of government openness during Sunshine Week, an annual recognition of public information laws that began Sunday and runs through Saturday. Information requests under state laws typically fair better, Cuillier said, but “every year, we get exemptions being passed in state legislatures all across the country, and that just seems to be accelerating.”
Though some states already had similar laws, the New Jersey case provided an impetus for action elsewhere. Most states now have laws prohibiting governmental entities from disclosing the home addresses of at least some public employees, with judges among the most commonly protected,by Jodie Gil, an associate journalism professor at Southern Connecticut State University.
“We don’t want people to be able to track these folks down and cause harm," Georgia state Sen. Matt Brass, a Republican, said while explaining his bill to a Senate committee.
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