Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

ACLU sides with conservative think tank in bid to access teacher emails

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Clark County District Judge Douglas Smith is shown in court Thursday, May 9, 2013.

The American Civil Liberties Union has joined the fight to release the email addresses of school teachers in Clark County.

The ACLU Thursday filed a friend of the court brief in the Nevada Supreme Court in support of the appeal by the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

Clark County District Judge Douglas Smith last August dismissed the suit by the institute to gain access to the list of email addresses of public school teachers held by the Clark County School District. He ruled these were not public records.

The institute appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling of Smith, arguing this is an effort to bring more transparency to government.

The ACLU said the directory of the addresses was paid for by taxpayer money and is a public record. It said in its press release, "Government transparency is not a matter of left versus right, but government openness versus secrecy."

The ACLU and the institute often have differences on public policy.

The school district has yet to file its brief with the court supporting Judge Smith's ruling.

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