MARK McBURNEY
A Pawtucket man with backing from a broad array of civil liberties groups and news organizations challenged the state of Virginia in U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, asserting that the Old Dominion State discriminatorily withholds public information from non-residents.
Lawyers on both sides of the case presented 30-minute arguments to all nine justices, according to Mark J. McBurney, a Rhode Island lawyer and the plaintiff in the case, who spoke on the telephone from Washington D.C.
"If we win," said McBurney, "it means states can't carve out little exceptions for themselves."
Starting in 2008, McBurney wants access to records that detail the way in which Virginia has handled a dispute between him and his wife, a Virginia resident, over child support payments.