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The Maine Civil Rights Act: History, Enforcement, Application, And Analysis, J. Christopher Parr
The Maine Civil Rights Act: History, Enforcement, Application, And Analysis, J. Christopher Parr
Maine Law Review
Since the passage of the “Maine Civil Rights Act” (MCRA, Act) in 1989, the Maine Department of the Attorney General has made enforcement of that civil “hate crime” law one of its highest priorities. According to one statistic, “more than 125 people have been prosecuted in Maine's civil courts on hate crime charges since 1994,” and only two of those actions have been lost by the State. The Attorney General at the time of this writing, Andrew Ketterer, has stated that he takes the perpetration of hate crimes seriously, and that it has been important to him “that the message …
Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. V. State: Balancing The Public's Right To Know Against The Privacy Rights Of Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Kenleigh A. Nicoletta
Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. V. State: Balancing The Public's Right To Know Against The Privacy Rights Of Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Kenleigh A. Nicoletta
Maine Law Review
In Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. v. State, a sharply divided Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that release of records relating to Attorney General G. Steven Rowe's investigation of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic priests was warranted under Maine's Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). Although such investigative records are designated confidential by statute, the majority held that the public's interest in the contents of the records mandated their disclosure after all information identifying persons other than the deceased priests had been redacted. The concurrence asserted that the majority had reached the correct conclusion, but in so …