Georgia v. Public.Resource.org—A Missed Opportunity For Democracy

On Apr 27, 2020, the US Supreme Court decided Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. (Georgia v. PRO). It held that the state of Georgia was barred from holding a copyright in annotations made to and published alongside its official code because of the government edicts doctrine--the idea that governments cannot copyright certain works. Before Georgia v. PRO, the exact scope of the government edicts doctrine was unclear. No Supreme Court case had touched the subject in over 130 years, and even then, there were only three major cases. This Note seeks to fill the gap left by the Supreme Court by providing a policy framework for evaluating when it is proper to restrict access to a government work through copyright. The framework consists of two parts, each based on distinct policies.