Forget It Jake, It's Baltimore

 At the Balmer Sun, Judge denies Baltimore City’s request to pause IG subpoena order

A Baltimore judge has denied an emergency request by Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration to pause enforcement of an order requiring the city to produce records in the ongoing legal fight between the city and the inspector general. The order, entered Wednesday by Senior Judge Pamela White in Baltimore City Circuit Court, comes as the city seeks to challenge an Aug. 14 order requiring it to quickly identify and turn over all responses to certain inspector general subpoenas issued to city agencies since April.

The city’s legal team had asked the court to delay that requirement while it seeks an expedited appeal, arguing the order functions as a preliminary injunction and is immediately appealable. The dispute centers on whether the inspector general can compel the city to produce potentially privileged or confidential records.

White’s order from Aug. 14 directed the city to respond to subpoenas and produce required documents, rejecting the city’s claim that Maryland’s Public Information Act prevents such disclosures. White wrote that the inspector general’s legal power to issue and enforce subpoenas “is not in conflict with or restricted by the MPIA,” and that city arguments about applying exclusions were “inapt.”

According to the city’s filing, complying with the order could involve producing more than one terabyte of data and more than 2 million email pages.

City attorneys warned that some of that data could include confidential or privileged material, saying that “disclosure could not later be undone.” The city also argued that production was ordered “without resolving core questions raised in the litigation” and before the city had “an opportunity for a full adversary hearing.”

And I'm sure the Brandon Scott and the city have nothing to hide. /sarc