International law grants governments the ability to temporarily suspend most civil rights during a state of emergency.  That’s how state governments in the U.S. can issue lockdown orders — essentially suspending the first amendment right of free assembly — during the coronavirus pandemic.  It’s relatively easy to see how preventing unnecessary deaths can justify temporarily limiting the number of people who can get together. But what about open meetings, or open records?  Can the government increase secrecy during a temporary emergency? That seems a little harder to justify. Yet many local, state and federal governments have done exactly that, making it more difficult for reporters and others to obtain records or to find out who said what in a public meeting.  David Cuillier is the president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and he joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on April 13, 2020.