MINNEAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) - Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison can cite the “common-interest doctrine” to shield communications with outside parties involved in climate litigation, the state’s highest court ruled, reversing an appeals court decision that would have made public Ellison’s conversations with other state AGs and private organizations.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (Legal Newsline) - The Minnesota Court of Appeals
ruled on Tuesday that Attorney General Keith Ellison cannot conceal documents related to his office s communications with attorneys general in other states.
The Court of Appeals reversed a previous Ramsey County District Court decision and held that the common interest doctrine - which allows states to withhold communications involving conversations with other states - is not valid in Minnesota. The case was represented by Upper Midwest Law Center on behalf of Energy Policy Advocates, a nonprofit public interest group that promotes governmental transparency. What the Court of Appeals said in Minnesota is that those types of agreements they re called common interest agreements are not valid under Minnesota law. If you share something outside of the attorney-client relationship in Minnesota, if you share it with Washington or with New York, then you ve got to share it with the public, too. That s what the case is