The Associated Press became the second news organization in recent weeks to ask a judge to make public the names of baseball players the government has kept confidential.
The Associated Press has requested the redacted names from the Affidavit in Support of Search Warrant for Jason Grimsley’s Arizona home in 2006. The AP cited more or less the same argument that the Hearst Corporation made when they requested the names from Kirk Radomski’s affidavit.
In both circumstances the government has provided the information to George Mitchell and his investigators.
“Any privacy interests of individuals named in the affidavit are insufficient to overcome the public’s right to access.”
The AP said in its motion that if the government provided the complete affidavit to Mitchell, “then they should not be allowed to invoke the privacy interests of third parties as a shield to prevent disclosure to others.”
The Los Angeles Times first reported that Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Jay Gibbons and Brian Roberts were among the redacted names in the Grimsley affidavit. David Segui had previously admitted that he was named but said he used human growth hormone ‘legally’ with a doctor’s prescription.
It seems the government’s overzealous support of the Mitchell investigation may have created some conflicting legal positions. Whether or not you believe Mitchell’s investigation is important to public interests, he is a private citizen, and the implication is that he is no more entitled to confidential government information than any other private citizen.
