Times Mirror Co. v. Superior Court

Times Mirror Co. v. Superior Court (1991) 53 Cal.3d 1325, illustrates the quality of evidence of a threat to security that justifies exemption from disclosure under the weighing process prescribed by section 6255. In Times Mirror, a newspaper requested disclosure of the Governor's appointment schedules and calendars under the PRA. The Supreme Court held that no identifiable public interest supported such a wholesale production of documents under section 6255. One of the bases upon which the court reached this conclusion was the evidence relating to the potential threat to the Governor's physical security disclosure would present. As the court noted, "the Governor's daily and weekly schedules set forth in exhaustive detail the particulars of the Governor's meetings and travel: time and location of arrivals and departures; traveling companions; hotel accommodations; and ground transportation. The revelation of such information, the Governor's security director reasonably asserts, 'would seriously impair his ... ability to assure the Governor's security, and would constitute a potential threat to the Governor's safety, because the information ... will enable the reader to know in advance and with relative precision when and where the Governor may be found, those persons who will be with him, and when he will be alone.' Confining disclosure to outdated calendars and schedules might mitigate but would not altogether eliminate the threat; it is plausible to believe that an individual intent on doing harm could use such information to discern activity patterns of the Governor and identify areas of particular vulnerability." (Times Mirror, at p. 1346.)