A deeper dive into the case that will be heard in the US Supreme Court tomorrow, Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media.

In a 2013 opinion, the Kentucky Supreme Court made clear that its analysis was "informed" by federal law. In a footnote to Kentucky New Era v. City of Hopkinsville, the Court observed:

"The federal counterpart of the ORA, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), was enacted in 1966. It too creates a general rule of open access to agency records with the rule qualified by certain express exceptions. The exceptions are to be narrowly construed. Since the adoption of the federal Act, every state has adopted similar legislation, and the vast majority of state open records laws follow, as does our ORA, the federal model—a general rule of openness with qualifying exceptions. Given the broad statutory similarities, cases construing the federal Act often inform-whether by comparison or by contrast—state decisions construing parallel provisions. As will be apparent below, we have considered and found pertinent to our application of the ORA's privacy exemption the United States Supreme Court's discussion of the similar provisions of the FOIA"

(Citations omitted.)

Because Kentucky's courts had not yet ruled on the state open records law, the Office of the Attorney General began looking to the small body of existing federal caselaw in the 1970s. The office continues to do so to this day.

Clearly, what happens in the federal courts may have an impact on Kentucky law.