Missouri AG seeks to dismiss suit alleging the office under Josh Hawley broke open records law

Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office argues that even though private emails pertained to public business, they were not public records.
A Cole County judge on Thursday heard arguments over whether staff in the Missouri attorney general’s office, while it was being run by now-U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, used private email accounts in order to subvert the state’s open records laws.

A lawsuit filed in 2019 by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee alleges Hawley’s office violated the Sunshine Law when it withheld emails between Hawley’s taxpayer-funded staff and his political consultants during the 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate.

The suit asks the court to impose civil penalties against the attorney general’s office for “knowingly and purposely” violating the Sunshine Law.

The Missouri attorney general’s office argued to Cole County Judge Jon Beetem that despite the fact that the emails pertained to public business, they should not be considered public records.