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Minnesota Court of Appeals Tells Attorney General Ellison He Cannot Hide Documents From Public in Bloomberg Embedded Lawyer Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

June 1, 2021

MEDIA CONTACT:

Bill Walsh (651) 373-1819

[email protected]

(Golden Valley, MN) Today, Energy Policy Advocates, a public interest group seeking transparency in nationwide energy policy, represented by Upper Midwest Law Center, secured a major victory against Attorney General Keith Ellison at the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals issued a precedential decision that requires Attorney General Keith Ellison to support his attempts to withhold data from the public with real descriptions and evidence, and not broad and general claims of privilege.

The Court of Appeals reversed the Ramsey County District Court and held that the Attorney General could not rely on a broad and vague “common interest doctrine” to shield documents related to discussions with other attorneys general around the country from discovery by the public. To review the decision click here.

Importantly, the attorney general has been withholding documents related to his discussions with other states’ attorneys general in his war on traditional energy sources. In addition, Ellison has allowed outside special interests to embed attorneys in the Minnesota Attorney General‘s office to work on their agenda. This lawsuit and others filed by Upper Midwest Law Center and Energy Policy Advocates seek to shine light on this dubious practice, which they believe violates state law and ethical requirements.

Doug Seaton, President of Upper Midwest Law Center, stated as follows: “this major decision upholds transparency and requires Attorney General Ellison and his team to operate in the public view, and not behind a shroud of secrecy. We are confident that the attorney general will now be held accountable to the public for renting out the constitutional office of the attorney general to extremist climate change activists.”

Chris Horner of Energy Policy Advocates also said: “Keith Ellison has been the most secretive and anti-transparency Attorney General that our group has sought documents from in the entire nation. We are grateful that the Court of Appeals has rejected his attempt to conceal his office’s activities, and we look forward to getting the documents we asked for more than two years ago. Hopefully after this decision, we won’t have to file lawsuits to get documents about which the public has a right to know.”

About Upper Midwest Law Center

Upper Midwest Law Center is a non-profit, public interest law firm with the mission to initiate pro-freedom litigation to protect against constitutional violations, government overreach, special interest agendas and public union corruption and abuses. UMLC is a 501(c)(3) organization.

To learn more about Upper Midwest Law Center, click here.

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