Court rules judiciary exempt from disclosure

SEATTLE – The judiciary in Washington is exempt from public disclosure requirements under the state’s Public Records Act, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday, creating what a critic called a “huge black hole” in government accountability.

The 7-2 decision upheld decisions in King County Superior Court and the state Court of Appeals in denying a request by David Koenig concerning Federal Way Municipal Judge Colleen Hartl, who stepped down and was censured by a state panel last year after having a sexual encounter with a public defender who routinely appeared in her courtroom.

Koenig sought all public records relating to the Hartl flap, including correspondence to and from Municipal Court Presiding Judge Michael Morgan. Federal Way officials provided 183 pages of documents but none of the correspondence.

The correspondence and other withheld documents were exempt from release under a 23-year-old ruling that held court records are not subject to the Public Records Act “because the judiciary is not included in the PRA’s definition of ‘agency,’ ” Justice Susan Owens wrote for the Supreme Court majority.

The president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, former state Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland, said the group would ask lawmakers to bring the judiciary under the law.