Kentucky Open Government Coalition
The Coalition’s Sunshine Law Library, curated by coalition co-director and webmaster Scott Horn, continues to grow in popularity. In May, Scott reported that we had 19,000 users in the last 12 months. This was up 119%from the previous 12 months.
https://kyopengov.org/law
He noted a substantial jump in interest in a post relating to records generated in the investigation of country music star Naomi Judd’s 2022 suicide.
His message coincided with the broadcast of “The Judd Family: Truth Be Told,” a four-part documentary that aired on May 10.
https://www.mylifetime.com/shows/the-judd-family-truth-be-told
Judd’s suicide figured prominently in the documentary. Ashley Judd discussed her mother’s death with painful candor. She has dedicated her efforts to fighting disclosure of the investigative records in Naomi Judd’s death.
In a New York Times op-ed, Ashley Judd “acknowledge[d] the need for law enforcement to investigate a sudden violent death by suicide, [but maintained,] there is absolutely no compelling public interest in the case of my mother to justify releasing the videos, images and family interviews that were done in the course of that investigation. Quite the contrary. Not only does making such material public do irreparable harm to the family; it can act as a contagion among a population vulnerable to self-harm.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/opinion/ashley-judd-naomi-suicide.ht…
Kentucky has struggled with similarly painful public records issues. In 1992, the Kentucky Supreme Court limited the Courier Journal’s access to client files maintained by a psychologist accused of “sexual improprieties.” The client files were part of the psychologist’s licensure file as part of an investigation of the psychologist by the state regulatory Board of Examiners of Psychologists.
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/supreme-court/1992/90-sc-498-dg-1…
The Court addressed concerns that the open records law might be used for purposes other than those for which it was enacted, writing:
“The information sought touches upon the most intimate and personal features of private lives. Mindful that the policy of disclosure is purposed to subserve the public interest, not to satisfy the public’s curiosity, and that the Board has in this case effectually promoted the public interest in regulation, and that there is a countervailing public interest in personal privacy, here strongly substantiated, we hold that further disclosure of information contained in the public record in this case would, as a matter of law, constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/supreme-court/1992/90-sc-498-dg-1…
The case was resolved against the newspaper based on the privacy exception, but it ultimately gave Kentuckians one of their greatest open records victories. It established the privacy balancing test we regularly use today and declared that our open records law “exhibits a general bias favoring disclosure.”
Scott has commented on more than one occasion that our Naomi Judd post receives vastly more hits than any other. On May 14, he texted me:
“We normally get around 12 daily google clicks on the Naomi Judd article, but I got this alert that it shot up to 329 in a day.”
On May 19, he advised, “The Naomi Judd post got 2100 views in the last 7 days, compared to 1600 for all other pages combined.”
What has generated this level of interest? First and foremost, concern about the suicide note that Tennessee police released to the public. In January 2023, we asked:
“Is Naomi Judd’s suicide note a public record?
“It may come as no surprise that I believe the note written minutes before the elder Judd — a successful singer and mother of Wynona and Ashley — shot herself is a public record. It was among the evidence collected at the scene of her suicide by Tennessee law enforcement officers.
“But it may come as a surprise that I do not believe the note is an •open• record. It’s unlikely that disclosure of the note would have been required under Kentucky’s open records law and the privacy exception. [That exception] authorizes nondisclosure of public records containing information of a personal nature the public disclosure of which constitutes a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
“I agree with Ashley Judd that publication of the note was ‘irresponsible’ and did not advance the purpose for which the law was enacted.
https://kyopengov.org/blog/naomi-judds-suicide-note-public-record
We expressed concern about unintended but, in these times, foreseeable consequences:
“This tragedy unfolded in Tennessee, and release of public records related to it — including Naomi Judd’s suicide note — was governed by Tennessee public records laws. The decision to publish it is a not a question of public records law but is instead a question of gross insensitivity and bad judgment.
“It has resulted in demands for new laws that divest Tennesseans of the right to monitor 911 dispatch and law enforcement in non-criminal cases.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2022/12/06/tennessee-propos…
“Sadly, abuses of public records laws — or records obtained under those laws — lead to legislative abuses that undermine the public’s right to know how its government operates and where it needs improvement.”
Here, we were referring to the knee jerk reaction of lawmakers to grab headlines by introducing unnecessary legislative “fixes” to nonexistent problems in public records laws.
To date, the post has received 4558 views. A direct “answer” to AshleyJudd’s New York Times guest opinion has received fewer hits. It can be found at:
https://kyopengov.org/blog/why-ashley-judd-partially-wrong
Please take this opportunity to examine the coalition’s Sunshine Law Library. You never know what you might find. 19,000 users can’t be wrong.
https://kyopengov.org/law
Republished from Kentucky Open Government Coalition under CC-BY-SA 4.0
https://kyopengov.org/blog/coalition-law-library-witnessing-impressive-growth
Amye Bensenhaver is a retired assistant attorney general who, for twenty-five years, specialized in Kentucky’s open records and meetings laws. She is the co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
Sat, May 31, 2025
Commentary
Amye Bensenhaver
Kentucky Open Government Coalition
The Coalition’s Sunshine Law Library, curated by coalition co-director and webmaster Scott Horn, continues to grow in popularity. In May, Scott reported that we had 19,000 users in the last 12 months. This was up 119%from the previous 12 months.
https://kyopengov.org/law
He noted a substantial jump in interest in a post relating to records generated in the investigation of country music star Naomi Judd’s 2022 suicide.
His message coincided with the broadcast of “The Judd Family: Truth Be Told,” a four-part documentary that aired on May 10.
https://www.mylifetime.com/shows/the-judd-family-truth-be-told
Judd’s suicide figured prominently in the documentary. Ashley Judd discussed her mother’s death with painful candor. She has dedicated her efforts to fighting disclosure of the investigative records in Naomi Judd’s death.
In a New York Times op-ed, Ashley Judd “acknowledge[d] the need for law enforcement to investigate a sudden violent death by suicide, [but maintained,] there is absolutely no compelling public interest in the case of my mother to justify releasing the videos, images and family interviews that were done in the course of that investigation. Quite the contrary. Not only does making such material public do irreparable harm to the family; it can act as a contagion among a population vulnerable to self-harm.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/opinion/ashley-judd-naomi-suicide.ht…
Kentucky has struggled with similarly painful public records issues. In 1992, the Kentucky Supreme Court limited the Courier Journal’s access to client files maintained by a psychologist accused of “sexual improprieties.” The client files were part of the psychologist’s licensure file as part of an investigation of the psychologist by the state regulatory Board of Examiners of Psychologists.
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/supreme-court/1992/90-sc-498-dg-1…
The Court addressed concerns that the open records law might be used for purposes other than those for which it was enacted, writing:
“The information sought touches upon the most intimate and personal features of private lives. Mindful that the policy of disclosure is purposed to subserve the public interest, not to satisfy the public’s curiosity, and that the Board has in this case effectually promoted the public interest in regulation, and that there is a countervailing public interest in personal privacy, here strongly substantiated, we hold that further disclosure of information contained in the public record in this case would, as a matter of law, constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/supreme-court/1992/90-sc-498-dg-1…
The case was resolved against the newspaper based on the privacy exception, but it ultimately gave Kentuckians one of their greatest open records victories. It established the privacy balancing test we regularly use today and declared that our open records law “exhibits a general bias favoring disclosure.”
Scott has commented on more than one occasion that our Naomi Judd post receives vastly more hits than any other. On May 14, he texted me:
“We normally get around 12 daily google clicks on the Naomi Judd article, but I got this alert that it shot up to 329 in a day.”
On May 19, he advised, “The Naomi Judd post got 2100 views in the last 7 days, compared to 1600 for all other pages combined.”
What has generated this level of interest? First and foremost, concern about the suicide note that Tennessee police released to the public. In January 2023, we asked:
“Is Naomi Judd’s suicide note a public record?
“It may come as no surprise that I believe the note written minutes before the elder Judd — a successful singer and mother of Wynona and Ashley — shot herself is a public record. It was among the evidence collected at the scene of her suicide by Tennessee law enforcement officers.
“But it may come as a surprise that I do not believe the note is an •open• record. It’s unlikely that disclosure of the note would have been required under Kentucky’s open records law and the privacy exception. [That exception] authorizes nondisclosure of public records containing information of a personal nature the public disclosure of which constitutes a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
“I agree with Ashley Judd that publication of the note was ‘irresponsible’ and did not advance the purpose for which the law was enacted.
https://kyopengov.org/blog/naomi-judds-suicide-note-public-record
We expressed concern about unintended but, in these times, foreseeable consequences:
“This tragedy unfolded in Tennessee, and release of public records related to it — including Naomi Judd’s suicide note — was governed by Tennessee public records laws. The decision to publish it is a not a question of public records law but is instead a question of gross insensitivity and bad judgment.
“It has resulted in demands for new laws that divest Tennesseans of the right to monitor 911 dispatch and law enforcement in non-criminal cases.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2022/12/06/tennessee-propos…
“Sadly, abuses of public records laws — or records obtained under those laws — lead to legislative abuses that undermine the public’s right to know how its government operates and where it needs improvement.”
Here, we were referring to the knee jerk reaction of lawmakers to grab headlines by introducing unnecessary legislative “fixes” to nonexistent problems in public records laws.
To date, the post has received 4558 views. A direct “answer” to AshleyJudd’s New York Times guest opinion has received fewer hits. It can be found at:
https://kyopengov.org/blog/why-ashley-judd-partially-wrong
Please take this opportunity to examine the coalition’s Sunshine Law Library. You never know what you might find. 19,000 users can’t be wrong.
https://kyopengov.org/law
Republished from Kentucky Open Government Coalition under CC-BY-SA 4.0
https://kyopengov.org/blog/coalition-law-library-witnessing-impressive-growth
Amye Bensenhaver
Amye Bensenhaver is a retired assistant attorney general who, for twenty-five years, specialized in Kentucky’s open records and meetings laws. She is the co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.