An appeals court this week appeared to question a circuit judge鈥檚 ruling that said Gov. Ron DeSantis鈥� administration violated Florida鈥檚 public-records law last year by not properly providing documents about controversial flights of migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal heard arguments in the administration鈥檚 appeal of an October ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh.
That ruling sided with the nonprofit Florida Center for Government Accountability, which filed a lawsuit after seeking records about the state-funded flights in September of 49 migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha鈥檚 Vineyard in Massachusetts.
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During a hearing this week, appeals-court Judge Brad Thomas repeatedly raised questions about what would have been a 鈥渞easonable鈥� time for the governor鈥檚 office to provide the records. He also pointed to issues such as the governor鈥檚 office needing to respond to Hurricane Ian in September and other public-records requests that were pending in the office.
鈥淭o make a reasonableness determination seems to be very fact-dependent, obviously,鈥� Thomas said. But Andrea Mogensen, an attorney for the center, cited the Florida Constitution in arguing the need for quick responses to records requests. 鈥淚t is a constitutional entitlement to immediate access,鈥� Mogensen said.
It was not clear when the Tallahassee-based appeals court might rule in the case.
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