McBurney Amicus

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

Amici agree with petitioners that access to public records under a state Public Records Act is a privilege of citizenship within the meaning of Article IV section 2 of the Constitution, and that a state needs a strong justification (which is absent in this case) for granting the privilege to state citizens while denying the privilege to citizens of other states. 5

Amici also agree with petitioners that the business of collecting, aggregating, indexing, and creating new services from public records is interstate commerce. A state statute that discriminates against out-of-state businesses engaged in the same pursuits as their in-state counterparts discriminates against interstate commerce in violation of the dormant commerce clause of Article I, section 8 of the Constitution.