LEON COUNTY, Fla. — A judge in Leon County says the governor’s office must show unredacted records in a lawsuit over the migrant flight to Martha's Vineyard.
The nonprofit Florida Center for Government Accountability is suing the governor's office for information related to those flights. The group believes the governor’s office is not responding to the records requests fast enough and is just piecemealing out the information.
“I understand the state may be in a challenging position. But the state has not shown any statutory basis for redacting the records provided to the plaintiffs in this case,” Judge J. Lee Marsh said.
He added the governor’s office has not responded to the records requests in a reasonable amount of time. Marsh said the EOG has 20 days to comply and show the unredacted records.
The defense argued the order is making the office play favorites by prioritizing this request over others.
According to court records, the same judge rejected subpoena requests for three people to testify earlier this week. Those subpoenas were to get the governor's chief of staff, public safety czar and records custodian to testify at a hearing Tuesday.
The state is also involved in another lawsuit over the flight and whether it was legal.
As of Oct. 28, the Executive Office of the Governor has published 69 pages worth of unredacted materials related to the migrant flights including the official consent to transport forms and a bio sheet on each person which has personal information including their name, birthdate, where they were from, and a picture.