Reply #11: Hand up...Hey, Over here, Pick me pick me

[musiclawyer]

I am usually an expert about nothing on DU, but finally something comes along that I know everything about, because I do this every day, for 12 years now. THIS IS NOT REALLY A BIG DEAL. Indeed it is mostly a constitutional/privacy issue than an executive branch/overreach issue. Any civilian and sworn officer has a right to privacy to their employment records. The issue was whether this right applied in administrative disciplinary hearing (even with normally open civil service appeals hearing. Not all agencies have civil service commissions. The court simply said yes, the privacy right applies. If there are further appeals and a case gets to court (either by the employer of the employees volition) then the employment history is fair game. It's always been this way and will always be this way. If a cop's disciplinary record matters at all in any type of case, even involving someone else in government, a good defense counsel can file various motions to obtain those records, if he can convince a judge they are relevant. So its not like the government can hide the ball, when it matters. So this case just confirms what we government lawyers have suspected all along.