(Host) Vermont’s Supreme Court justices today grilled lawyers for the state and for three newspapers as the attorneys argued over access to the governor’s daily schedule. Governor Howard Dean has rebuffed requests from the Rutland Herald, Times Argus and the Burlington weekly Seven Days, which have asked for copies of his daily schedule.
Superior Court Judge Alan Cheever ruled for the newspapers, saying the public has a right to know what the governor is doing. Dean appealed, and today the justices questioned lawyers about how release of the documents might affect security for the governor. They also asked whether their release would violate the legal doctrine of executive privilege, which says the governor can develop policy in private.