New Mexico Courts Not Required to Expedite Access of Civil Suits

An order requiring New Mexico courts to make newly filed civil complaints publicly available within five business hours has been lifted, after a federal appeals court said the bright-line rule fails to accommodate the “state’s interests in the administration of its courts.”

The injunction order lacks any exceptions and pays “no regard to the New Mexico Courts’ administrative limitations in extraordinary circumstances,” Judge Mary Beck Briscoe of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said.

When the lower court granted Courthouse News Service’s request for a preliminary injunction in October 2021, it failed to adequately address the courts’ ...