Updated Dec. 18 to reflect the state Supreme Court’s decision.
On Sunday, the front page of The New York Times featured an article about the “downbeat legacy” of James Brown. It’s a story about legal wrangling over the legendary soul singer’s will, and how a series of complicated disputes “prompted the South Carolina government to seize control of Mr. Brown’s estate, jettison his instructions and redirect half of his assets.”
Brown had wanted to establish an educational foundation to give scholarships for needy children in South Carolina and Georgia–but, as the Times reported, “nearly eight years after his death… the I Feel Good Trust has not distributed a penny to its intended recipients.” The case, still being hashed out in the courts, has had serious implications for determining what actions a state government can take in resolving probate disputes and changing the terms of a charitable trust.
A less-told story, however, is about the significance of the Brown case for open government in South Carolina–and the impact one reporter can have.
In this case, that reporter would be a local journalist named Sue Summer, briefly mentioned in the Times story for her role in securing “a court ruling directing the state to release documents about the estate’s finances.”
As the only reporter consistently covering the Brown case, Summer has been involved in a protracted, ongoing FOI fight in South Carolina because of it. Two years ago this month, the semi-retired reporter for the small Newberry Observer newspaper sued the state’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, for withholding documents related to Brown’s estate. The story heated up when a lawyer for the attorney general slapped Summer with an extremely broad subpoena. (The AG eventually had it withdrawn after media attention.) I wrote about it at the time while working for the Columbia-based alt-weekly Free Times, but the story never got the attention from the state’s press corps that I thought it deserved.
In July of this year, Summer won her lawsuit: A judge ruled the attorney general had violated the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The public records win didn’t make a big splash in state media, either. The most comprehensive piece came in South Carolina Lawyer’s Weekly. It’s paywalled, but the lede reads:
Sue Summer is a small-town journalist embroiled in a big public records fight with an even bigger state agency. And, so far, she’s winning.
Like the disputes over Brown’s will, this fight isn’t over yet. The AG has filed an appeal, so Summer hasn’t actually seen the documents yet. Meanwhile, a lower court has been reviewing some of the documents the AG has tried to keep secret to determine if they should be released.
On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court granted Summer’s request that it take the case now and resolve the dispute. “It feels like Christmas came early. After two years I’m smiling,” Summer says. She hopes her case will allow the public to know what’s happening to the charitable trust Brown left behind. (The AG hadn’t opposed the Supreme Court getting involved, but had argued he doesn’t think the case “involves an issue of significant public interest”—a standard the high court relies on when deciding to hear cases on appeal.
I asked Jay Bender, one of Summer’s lawyers, and the leading media attorney in the state, what he thought his client’s FOI case means.
“I think what it demonstrates is how the persistence of one committed reporter can lead to a determination of what’s in the public interest with respect to public records,” he said. “This case may have a longer career than James Brown did.”
Corey Hutchins is CJR’s correspondent based in Colorado, where he teaches journalism at Colorado College. A former alt-weekly reporter in South Carolina, he was twice named journalist of the year in the weekly division by the SC Press Association. Hutchins writes about politics and media for the Colorado Independent and worked on the State Integrity Investigation at the Center for Public Integrity; he has contributed to Slate, The Nation, the Washington Post, and others. Follow him on Twitter @coreyhutchins or email him at coreyhutchins@gmail.com.