{"id":1532,"date":"2026-06-30T17:49:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/?post_type=cases&p=1532"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:20:48","slug":"new-york-focus-v-nys-executive-chamber","status":"publish","type":"cases","link":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/cases\/new-york-focus-v-nys-executive-chamber\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Focus v. NYS Executive Chamber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Cornell First Amendment Clinic represents journalist Chris Bragg and news outlet New York Focus <\/em>in a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) case seeking New York Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s schedule and calendars, which the Clinic filed in Albany County Supreme Court on June 30, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FOIL requests seek the governor\u2019s daily schedules from October 1, 2024, to present, and the governor\u2019s Outlook calendar and fundraising schedule from October 1 through November 1, 2025. Gov. Hochul\u2019s office, the Executive Chamber, issued a blanket denial of the FOIL requests, claiming that all the records are shielded from public disclosure because they are intra-agency records until the Chamber posts sanitized versions on its website. These web versions of the governor\u2019s calendars contain hand-picked information and are subject to considerable delay \u2014 the most recent schedule available on the site is from September 2024, one year and nine months ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its initial denial and subsequent appeal denial, the Chamber also cited four additional exemptions, claiming that some unspecified portions were attorney-client privileged, their disclosure would be an unwarranted invasion of personal property or could endanger the life or safety of the governor and her staff, and that they had to be withheld to guarantee the security of technology assets. The Chamber made the same arguments in 2014 when it sought to withhold Gov. Cuomo\u2019s calendars, but it was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The records that the Chamber is withholding are critical to the functioning of a democracy, where the public has a fundamental right to know how their elected officials spend their time in office. Are these officials whiling away their days with wealthy donors? Are they leaving the office each afternoon for golf? What issues do they choose to spend their time on and what issues do they not? Without this information, the public is in the dark about its leaders\u2019 performance, and voters are unable to properly perform democratic oversight of their government. Yet Governor Hochul\u2019s office is attempting to keep this information hidden. The Clinic seeks a court order requiring the documents\u2019 release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
6\/30\/2026: Petition with Exhibits<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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6\/30\/2026: Memorandum of law in support of verified petition<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cornell First Amendment Clinic represents journalist Chris Bragg and news outlet New York Focus in a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) case seeking New York Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s schedule and calendars, which the Clinic filed in Albany County Supreme Court on June 30, 2026. The FOIL requests seek the governor\u2019s daily schedules from October […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cases\/1532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cases"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cases\/1532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1536,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cases\/1532\/revisions\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}