Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejects newspapers’ email appeal

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and several other newspapers seeking to force state government to store employee emails.

The newspaper says Monday’s one-line ruling upholds a Commonwealth Court ruling in July that allowed 47 state agencies to continue letting employees decide whether emails can be permanently deleted.

The news organizations contend that violates Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law and wanted state government emails to be stored on a server for two years.

The Commonwealth Court ruled the Right-to-Know Law doesn’t address records retention requirements or outlaw the destruction of records.

The Patriot News of Harrisburg; the York Daily Record/Sunday News; the Chambersburg Public Opinion; The (Hanover) Evening Sun; the Lebanon Daily News; and LNP Media Group joined in the lawsuit.