An Oklahoma County judge has upheld Gov. Mary Fallin's legal right to withhold documents requested by news organizations under Oklahoma's Open Records Act.
District Judge Barbara Swinton handed down the ruling Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The lawsuit on behalf of the satirical news website The Lost Ogle was joined with several news organizations, including The Associated Press, in a request for documents related to Fallin's decisions to reject a state health insurance exchange and to expand Medicaid coverage to thousands of low-income and uninsured Oklahomans.
Fallin's office released more than 51,000 pages of emails and other correspondence, but withheld 31 documents consisting of 100 pages of materials that her lawyer, Steve Mullins, determined to be part of "executive and deliberative process privileges."
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