Supreme Court ruled in McBurney v. Young that Virginia could keep public records access limited to residents of Virginia, agreeing with an amicus brief signed by ICMA. The Court concluded this because the records are made public to provide transparency to state tax payers regarding activities of state government agencies. Virginia’s resident-access limitation had been challenged by two out-of-state residents who argued that this violated the Constitution’s Privileges and Immunities Clause and the Commerce Clause. The Court disagreed on both.

There is no constitutional requirement for a state government to make its records available to the public – only eight states do so, and the seven other states have laws similar to Virginia. Virginia’s legislature passed its law in 1968 to improve the communication of government agencies to the residents of Virginia, and these records are maintained by the taxes paid for by the residents of Virginia.

The Court also ruled that access to public information is not a “fundamental” privilege of citizenship.