Court Opinion

ID: 9579074
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:51:14.852724+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:34:15.638221
License: Public Domain

MARTONE, Justice,
concurring and dissenting in part.
¶ 27 We granted review on the single issue of whether the Carlson balancing test applies even when the information is available through other public sources. The court of appeals held that it did not apply, and we are of the unanimous view that it does. To that extent, I join in part I of the court’s opinion.
¶28 Because the court of appeals held that the Carlson balancing test did not apply, *304it did not review the balancing performed by the trial court. I would remand to the court of appeals so that it can decide this issue in the first instance. Since we only granted review on whether Carlson ought to apply at all, the balancing was not at issue here. Instead of remanding, this court chooses to review the trial court’s balancing on its own. While we have the authority to do that, the issue is complex enough that we would profit from its examination by the court of appeals. On subsequent petition for review, the parties could focus our attention on the balancing issue. My concerns with the majority’s current approach are many.
1. While the federal Freedom of Information Act can be helpful in other contexts, it is not that helpful in deciding whether a birth date raises privacy interests sufficient to overcome the presumption of open records. Freedom of Information Act cases concerning invasions of privacy arise under an exemption, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6), that does not exist under the Arizona statute. It would be well to focus the parties’ attention on this distinction.
2. In Cox Arizona Publications, Inc. v. Collins, 175 Ariz. 11, 852 P.2d 1194 (1993), we rather strongly held that once records are characterized as public, there is a presumption of disclosure and the burden of overcoming that presumption falls upon the public official who seeks to block access. Id. at 14, 852 P.2d at 1197. But here, the court says that because KPNX gave no basis for its suspicion, the public interest in disclosure is speculative. Ante, at ¶ 23. The result is that we here give greater protection to birth dates than we gave to police reports in Collins. I would like the parties to explain this result.
3. The weighing here is not easy. There are substantial interests on both sides of the question, and if they are evenly weighted, the legal presumption in favor of disclosure of public records might make a difference. In light of the closeness of the question, I would much prefer to decide this issue when the parties have focused on it following a decision by the court of appeals.
¶ 29 I would thus remand to the court of appeals for initial resolution of this issue.