The Ga. Supreme Court ruled 4-3 today that the Atlanta City Council violated the state's Open Meetings Act when it refused to disclose how individual council members voted on a rule to amend the amount of public comment time at committee meetings.
Matthew Cardinale, who is openly gay and founder and editor of Atlanta Progressive News, represented himself in the case before the high court. Representing the city were city attorneys Cathy Hampton, Amber Robinson and Kristin Denius.
Cardinale argued his case before the Georgia Supreme Court on Oct. 4. You can view video of the oral arguments by Cardinale and the city by clicking here.
The case stems from a public meeting retreat the council had at the Georgia Aquarium in 2010 when council members voted on whether to amend rules regarding the amount of time the public can speak during committee meetings. According to documents, the council vote was 8-7 to keep the public comment time as it is. However, the minutes of the meeting did not show who voted how and Cardinale asked the city for a list of how each council member voted.