Court Operating Rules - Court Operating Rule 20: Public Access to Supreme Court Records and Sessions

Clerk Handbooks

Court Operating Rules

		Section/Rule:	COR 20
Subject:	Court Operating Rule 20	Publication / Adopted Date:	April 23, 1996
Topic:	Public Access to Supreme Court Records and Sessions	Revised / Effective Date:	January 1, 2014

Court Operating Rule 20 - OPEN MEETINGS, OPEN RECORDS, AND COMMUNICATIONS

20.01 Scope of Rule
20.02 Open Meetings and Open Records in This Court
20.03 Missouri Court Communications
20.04 The Missouri Courts Web Site
20.05 Management of the Missouri Courts Web Site

20.01 Scope of Rule

This Court Operating Rule 20 governs open meetings, open records, and communications from Missouri’s courts to the public, through the media, and through the courts’ website on the World Wide Web.

20.02 Open Meetings and Open Records in This Court

(a) All case records of the Supreme Court, including opinions and votes thereon, orders, briefs, and records on appeal, shall be open to the public unless closed by order of the Supreme Court.

(b) All meetings and deliberations of the Supreme Court when operating in an administrative capacity and not in a judicial capacity shall be open to the public, unless closed by order of the Supreme Court for reasons consistent with those stated in section 610.021, RSMo. Meetings and deliberations in an 'administrative capacity' shall include those on property and budget matters.

(c) Supreme Court sessions for oral argument of cases shall be open to the public, unless closed by order of the Supreme Court. All meetings and deliberations of the Supreme Court when operating in a judicial capacity are closed to the public, unless opened by order of the Supreme Court.

(d) Notice of the time, date, place and tentative agenda for each open meeting shall be posted in the office of the clerk of the Supreme Court at least twenty-four hours prior to the meeting, unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impracticable.

(e) Minutes of open meetings shall be kept, including a record of any votes taken, and shall be open to the public for inspection in the clerk's office of the Supreme Court.

(f) Any committee appointed by or reporting to the Supreme Court, operating in an administrative capacity and not in a judicial capacity, shall comply with the procedures in this Court Operating Rule 20.02 and shall file their minutes with the clerk of this Court.

(g) Information about an individual lawyer or applicant maintained by the board of law examiners or the attorney enrollment section of this Court shall not be disclosed other than to the subject lawyer or applicant, except that the following information may be disclosed: a lawyer's current address, bar number, license date, reinstatement date, and current status as a member of The Missouri Bar. Other information maintained by the board of law examiners or the attorney enrollment section about an individual may be disclosed by the clerk of this Court upon receipt of a written request showing good cause for release of the information. The clerk shall have discretion as to the manner and extent of the disclosure.

20.03 Missouri Court Communications

Public communications from Missouri’s state courts shall be coordinated through this Court’s communications counsel under the direction of this Court. The communications counsel shall be responsible for providing access to the media and the public to information about court decisions, proceedings and other matters of public interest, subject to the following:

(a) This Court’s state courts administrator, and staff members designated by the courts administrator, may respond to inquiries from the public in areas of their expertise as to matters involving the court system. Inquiries from mass media may be handled by the courts administrator or staff so designated, and such inquiries shall be reported to this Court’s communications counsel. Initiation of communications through the mass media by the office of state courts administrator shall be coordinated through this Court’s communications counsel.

(b) The chief judge of each district of the court of appeals, or a designee, shall be responsible for public communications regarding the district of the court of appeals. This Court’s communications counsel is available, upon request, to assist the court of appeals in initiating and responding to communications through the mass media. The chief judge of each district of the court of appeals, or a designee, should advise this Court’s communications counsel about any issue of broad public interest within the district.

(c) The presiding judge of each judicial circuit shall be responsible for assigning personnel to facilitate public communications for the circuit. This Court’s communications counsel is available, upon request, to assist each judicial circuit in initiating and responding to communications through the mass media. The presiding judge of each judicial circuit, or a designee, should advise this Court’s communications counsel about any issue of broad public interest within the circuit.

20.04 The Missouri Courts Web Site

(a) The office of state courts administrator’s information technology division shall establish and maintain a Missouri judicial presence on the Internet/World Wide Web by creating and maintaining a secure electronic environment that will permit all appellate courts and circuit courts in the state to develop and post to the Internet court-specific information.

(b) This Court, each district of the court of appeals, and each judicial circuit will have a presence on the Missouri Courts website, the opening page of which will be designed uniformly to designate the respective court as part of Missouri’s court system. The Web information about this Court, each district of the court of appeals and each judicial circuit shall include court locations, hours of operation, information about judges and other personnel, telephone numbers and other contact information, court rules, and other pertinent information about the court’s operations and services. As a general matter, information posted to the Internet about each court should include at least such information as is readily available when visiting the physical location of the court.

(c) If a judicial circuit chooses to maintain its own Web presence, the Missouri Courts website will link, electronically, to the circuit court’s website from that circuit court’s designated Web page on the unified Missouri Courts website. If a municipal court division in a judicial circuit maintains a Web presence, that circuit’s Web page may contain an electronic link to the municipal court division at the discretion of the circuit’s presiding judge.

(d) Content material shall not violate accepted standards of judicial and ethical conduct. Content that represents data extracted, manipulated, computed or otherwise derived from information collected as a result of case management or other automated court processing systems will be reviewed by the state judicial records committee. Reasonable efforts will be made to ensure that up-to-date information is presented on judicial Internet/Web locations. The chief judge of each district of the court of appeals and the presiding judge of each circuit should designate a person to forward necessary information to the webmaster to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the information contained on the Missouri Courts website.

(e) The Missouri Courts website will contain current and accurate information regarding operations, services, programs and personnel of the office of the clerk of this Court; the office of state courts administrator; the board of law examiners; the office of chief disciplinary counsel; the fine collection center, and other offices and services within the judicial branch as designated by this Court.

(f) The Missouri Courts website will contain current and accurate information about the availability of the commission on retirement, removal and discipline.

(g) The Missouri Courts website will contain this Court’s rules, local rules of each district of the court of appeals, and any local court rules developed by each circuit court, as well as selected court forms that the website oversight committee believes may be of use to attorneys or those proceeding pro se. All court forms posted to the Missouri Courts website shall be subject to the approval of the state judicial records committee and the general counsel for this Court.

20.05 Management of the Missouri Courts Web Site

(a) The Missouri Courts website oversight committee shall consist of three persons: the state courts administrator or designee, this Court’s communications counsel and the general counsel. The website oversight committee shall approve standards for the website developed by the website committee and shall oversee the operation, content, design and organization of the website. The website oversight committee shall be advised and assisted in its duties by the recommendations of the website committee and shall report directly to this Court. The website oversight committee shall resolve any conflicts that may arise about developing information for or publishing information to the Missouri Courts website.

(b) The Missouri Courts website committee shall consist of this Court’s communications counsel and other members that the website oversight committee shall designate. The website committee shall develop standards for the uniform appearance, operation and navigation of the website, subject to approval by the website oversight committee and processes, subject to approval by the website oversight committee.

s website.