The state Attorney General’s Office is worried that if it discloses the names of deceased priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors, it might create a precedent.
“Government collects a substantial amount of personal information about private individuals, including unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct,” Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin wrote in a brief filed in Superior Court last week. “To disclose such information – especially against individuals who are deceased and therefore cannot defend their legacy – would do a disservice to our private citizens and public figures, as well as their survivors.”
Robbin was writing in response to a lawsuit by the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram asking for documents in the AG’s office that refer to allegations against any dead priest. Because the documents are held by the government, they are presumed public under the Maine Freedom of Access Act. The state argues, however, that the documents are exempt under the law because they constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
The newspapers’ lawyers argue that because the priests are dead, they have no right to personal privacy, and noted that “faced with the brunt of the priest sexual abuse scandal, Massachusetts Courts have consistently recognized the overwhelming nature of the public interest in disclosure of related information.”
