ACLU Sues Maryland State Police for Withholding Public Records and Overcharging for Documents Related to "Driving While Black" Lawsuit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
TOWSON, MD – Charging that the Maryland State Police (MSP) are flouting the letter and spirit of the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA), the American Civil Liberties Union teamed with Venable, LLP to file a lawsuit today against the MSP for improperly withholding records and imposing excessive costs for records it is producing. The case was filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court on behalf of the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches in order to force MSP to produce information and documents relating to its compliance with a federal court order in the organizations’ "Driving While Black" litigation.
"It raises red flags for the Maryland State Police to be so strenuously resisting some of the NAACP’s reasonable requests for information about steps the department has taken to ensure racial profiling is not perpetuated or tolerated on our highways," said ACLU of Maryland Legal Director Deborah A. Jeon.
ACLU senior staff attorney Reginald T. Shuford said, "In this time of creeping government secrecy, Marylanders should be especially vigilant in preserving their basic ‘right to know’ about important issues of public trust."
The lawsuit charges violations of the MPIA, stemming from an information request initially made by the NAACP in February 2007. The MPIA requires that "a custodian shall permit a person or governmental unit to inspect any public record at any reasonable time." However, several portions of the NAACP’s request were completely denied, including requests for records related to the MSP's internal investigations of racial profiling complaints. The NAACP offered to accept documents redacted where appropriate, but MSP still refused to produce the information.
For those records it has agreed to produce, MSP tabulated the cost of its production at over $55,000 – an exorbitant sum. The MPIA requires that any charge for providing records be a "fee bearing reasonable relationship to the recovery of actual costs incurred by a government unit." But the fee demanded by MSP for the records it agreed to provide is exponentially more than is required by other state agencies: MSP is demanding 75 cents per page, while other agencies only require between 15 and 25 cents per page. In addition, MSP is assessing "collection/gathering" costs of approximately $90 per hour – another staggering amount.
"The Maryland Public Information Act is a vital tool to ensure that our government operates openly and can be held accountable if certain practices violate the law and perpetuate discriminatory, inefficient practices," said Robert Wilkins, an attorney from Venable LLP and an original plaintiff in the "Driving While Black" lawsuit. "Marylanders have a basic right of access to records kept by their government, especially when they show whether government agencies are following the law in a race-neutral manner."
Attorneys on the case are Jeon of the ACLU of Maryland, Shuford of the national ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, and Wilkins, Hector G. Bladuell, Brian L. Schwalb, Seth A. Rosenthal, and Daniel P. Moylan from Venable LLP.
Click here to read the legal complaint:
www.aclu.org/racialjustice/racialprofiling/31954lgl20070926.html
More information on the ACLU Racial Justice Program's work on racial profiling can be found at:
www.aclu.org/racialjustice/racialprofiling/index.html
Background on the ACLU’s "Driving While Black" Lawsuit
In 1993, Robert Wilkins and members of his family filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland against the Maryland State Police charging that they were the victims of "racial profiling," or the practice of stopping motorists and making decisions regarding searches on the basis of race – an "offense" now better known as "Driving While Black." Documents showed that MSP illegally targeted African-American motorists for stops and searches along Maryland’s highways. In 1995, the parties entered into a settlement under which MSP, among other things, agreed to collect data on traffic stops and searches and take measures to prevent racial profiling. Two years later, the federal court overseeing the case ruled that MSP was continuing to target non-white motorists for traffic stops and searches, in violation of the Wilkins agreement.
In 1998, based on accumulated evidence showing a continuing pattern and practice of discrimination by MSP troopers, the ACLU, on behalf of the Maryland NAACP and several individual plaintiffs, filed another lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland charging that MSP troopers were continuing to engage in racial profiling. The parties ultimately agreed to resolve some of the litigation by entering into a consent decree that obligates MSP to take a number of steps to address concerns raised in the lawsuit, including providing the Maryland NAACP with quarterly reports containing detailed information on the number, nature, location and disposition of racial profiling complaints.
In February 2007, the Maryland NAACP submitted a request to MSP under the MPIA to inspect and copy all documents pertaining to twelve categories of records in MSP's possession, custody and/or control. The request was designed to determine whether MSP had complied, and was continuing to comply, with its obligations under the consent decree. MSP has not complied with this request, necessitating the filing of today’s lawsuit.
Smart Justice
Racial Justice
"Driving While Black" in Maryland
Smart Justice
Racial Justice
"Driving While Black" in Maryland
Learn More About the Issues in This Press Release
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
Smart Justice
ACLU Celebrates President Biden’s Clemency Announcement, Allowing Hundreds to Remain in Their CommunitiesACLU Celebrates President Biden’s Clemency Announcement, Allowing Hundreds to Remain in Their Communities
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Press ReleaseSep 2024
Criminal Law Reform
+2 Issues
Judge Orders Supervision System in Washington, D.C. to Accommodate People with DisabilitiesJudge Orders Supervision System in Washington, D.C. to Accommodate People with Disabilities
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Press ReleaseJul 2024
Smart Justice
Just City And Legal Advocates Challenge Tennessee’s Unprecedented Bail LawJust City And Legal Advocates Challenge Tennessee’s Unprecedented Bail Law
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Criminal Law Reform Project, ACLU of Tennessee, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of Just City Memphis to challenge the constitutionality of Tennessee’s unprecedented new bail law, arguing that the law violates the Fourteenth Amendment by mandating unfair bail hearing procedures and discriminatory wealth-based detention. The law makes Tennessee the only state in the country to prohibit judges from considering whether people appearing before them will be able to pay for release. The new law, which went into effect on May 1, targeted successful bail reforms that Shelby County implemented following an agreement with the ACLU, ACLU of Tennessee, Just City, and other local advocates. The agreement required the examination of a person’s financial circumstances prior to any bail decision; individualized bail hearings with counsel no later than three days after a person’s arrest; and imposition of secured money bail only as a last resort. As a result, more people returned home to their communities while at the same time lowering the number of people rearrested for new crimes. By rolling back these reforms, the Tennessee legislature has created a two-tiered system of justice, leaving those who cannot afford to pay detained indefinitely, even if they are not a flight or safety risk. Meanwhile, those who face the same charges but can afford to pay money bail are freed until trial. “Bail reform works, and it was working in Shelby County. More Tennesseans were returning home to live peacefully in their communities,” said Trisha Trigilio, senior staff attorney for the ACLU. “This shameful legislation targets low-income and marginalized Tennesseans for pointless jail time. We will not allow Tennessee lawmakers to end successful bail reform for political gain.” "Our Constitution demands that judges make individualized determinations about pretrial release," said Josh Spickler, executive director at Just City. "This law prevents judges from doing that crucial work and results in the unnecessary detention of people who pose no risk to public safety because they can't afford to pay an arbitrary bail amount. That's not how our justice system is supposed to work." “We don't have to choose between safety and justice; we can have both if we maintain a bail system that is evidence-based, fair, and constitutional.” said Stella Yarbrough, legal director at the ACLU of Tennessee. “Everyone has a basic right to freedom, and this new law contradicts decades of constitutional precedent. Freedom for the wealthy and punishment for poor people of all races violates the Constitution and disproportionately impacts Black people and people with disabilities, while doing nothing to address the systemic causes of crime—like poverty and lack of opportunity.” Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Litigation Partner Craig Waldman added, “Tennessee’s law banning judges from considering an individual’s ability to pay bail is unfair and unconstitutional. The right to due process guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment is a bedrock of our justice system.” Just City is an organization dedicated to fighting discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and income in Shelby County criminal proceedings, and has long advocated for pretrial practices that prioritize fair and sensible release decisions over a person’s ability to pay. Their lawsuit asks the court to declare that this new bail law violates the Fourteenth Amendment and requests a preliminary injunction that would prohibit the Shelby County Sheriff from enforcing this law. -
Press ReleaseJul 2024
Reproductive Freedom
+2 Issues
Court Rejects Attempt to Dismiss Case Seeking Accountability for Wrongful Prosecution of AbortionCourt Rejects Attempt to Dismiss Case Seeking Accountability for Wrongful Prosecution of Abortion
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