Missouri Supreme Court hears challenge to video limits by Senate

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Supreme Court judges, who restrict recordings of their proceedings, heard arguments Wednesday from a liberal activist group asserting similar recording limitations by senators violate the state's open-meetings law.

A state attorney countered senators can limit videos and photographs of their committee meetings because Senate rules supersede the Sunshine Law.

Looking around the courtroom, Deputy Solicitor General Jeremiah Morgan pointed out there was just one video cameraman, one still photographer and one broadcast audio recorder allowed under the Supreme Court's rules.

"This court also -- just like Congress, just like other states -- provides limitations, and that does not violate the constitution," Morgan said.

An attorney for Progress Missouri conceded the Sunshine Law doesn't apply to court proceedings, but said it should apply to the Senate.

"The Senate believes that they are above the law, and we disagree," Laura Swinford, executive director of Progress Missouri, said after the court arguments.

Republicans control the Missouri Senate, but its committee recording rule has remained essentially the same since 1983, when Democrats led the chamber.

Missouri law says a public governmental body "shall allow for the recording by audiotape, videotape, or other electronic means of any open meeting" and "may establish guidelines regarding the manner in which such recording is conducted so as to minimize disruption to the meeting."

The lawsuit by Progress Missouri says it was denied permission to record four Senate committee hearings last February and March.

Senate rules give committee chairmen the discretion to allow cameras as long as they don't disrupt the decorum of committee meetings. And the Missouri Constitution says each legislative chamber "may determine the rules of its own proceedings."

Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem dismissed the Progress Missouri lawsuit last year.

He cited the Senate's constitutional power to set its own rules while concluding its committee-recording rule wasn't subject to judicial review.

Progress Missouri appealed to the Supreme Court.

Morgan argued Wednesday that Senate rules trump the Sunshine Law. But even if they don't, he said the Senate complied with the Sunshine Law by establishing guidelines that allow members of the Missouri Capitol News Association to record meetings and by making copies of the Senate's own recordings available to others who want them.

Progress Missouri contends that isn't good enough. It said the Senate failed to fully record some committee meetings.

The liberal group also said the Senate effectively was violating its freedom of association, because to gain permission to record meetings, Progress Missouri would have to join the Capitol press association and abide by its requirement not to advocate for issues.

"When you allow one group to record -- for example, the institutional, established media -- but not any other, the government is trying to influence the type of coverage," Progress Missouri attorney Christopher Grant told the Supreme Court.

It's unclear whether the Supreme Court will rule on the case before the annual legislative session ends in mid-May.

During questioning, Judge Zel Fischer raised the possibility the Supreme Court may not decide the case at all.

Instead, Fischer suggested the case should have first gone to the Western District appeals court and still could be referred there by the high court.