Energy & Environment Legal Institute v. Arizona Board of Regents

The Arizona Court of Appeals reversed a trial court ruling that required that the University of Arizona produce emails of two climate scientists. The documents at issue were characterized as “prepublication critical analysis, unpublished data, analysis, research, results, drafts, and commentary.” The trial court issued its ruling on remand from an earlier appellate decision finding that the trial court should have conducted a de novo review of the university’s justification for withholding the documents. In its latest decision, the appellate court said that the trial court’s decision on remand did not refer to a section of the public records law providing for an exemption for “records of a university” and that the trial court seemed unaware of the existence of the academic privilege. The appellate court also said the trial court had not explained why the documents at issue did not fall within other exceptions to the public records law for unpublished research data, drafts of scientific papers, and information developed by university employees for which disclosure would be contrary to the best interests of the state. The appellate court remanded for further proceedings.