Wyoming Supreme Court Hears Grizzly Records Case

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Supreme Court must decide whether Gov. Matt Mead's administration properly withheld from an environmentalist records concerning endangered species protections for grizzly bears.

The state denied the records on the grounds they're exempted under "deliberative process" privilege. That privilege would shield records of some discussions and deliberations by state officials from release under Wyoming's public records law.

An attorney for environmentalist Robert Aland argued yesterday that the law doesn't recognize the privilege. An attorney for the state argued it's permissible based on legislators' intent when they passed the law.

Aland seeks records supporting Mead's conclusion that the greater Yellowstone grizzly population is healthy enough it no longer needs federal Endangered Species Act protections. State officials gave Aland dozens of pages of documents but withheld many others.