Tennessee Open Records Act

The Tennessee Open Records Act (TORA) is a freedom of information law enacted in Tennessee in 1957.[1] The law that states that any citizen of Tennessee may request public records there.

Provisions and applicability

The law states that documents shall "be open for personal inspection by any citizen of Tennessee." Despite the law's provisions, federal court rulings have overturned similar state specific statutes and open up records in these states to all U.S. citizens.[2]

In a U.S. Supreme Court ruling McBurney v. Young (2013), concerning Virginia specifically but also relevant to Tennessee, upheld that states can restrict open records to their citizens. However, open records counsel Ann V. Butterworth also stated that the law "does not forbid providing access to others".[3]

See also

References
  1. Fisher, Deborah. "Does Tennessee have too many exemptions to its public records act?". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  2. "Tennessee". Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Open Government Guide.
  3. "Tennessee is in the minority with a residency requirement for its open-records law. Should that change?". Nashville Scene. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  • "Tennessee", State Copyright Resource Center, Harvard University, Laws and legal sources that affect the copyright status of government documents


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