The Tennessee Court of Appeals unanimously said Nashville must let the public inspect the Covenant School shooter’s writings, reversing a lower court that kept those documents sealed for nearly three years and rejecting claims that copyright, school safety, or an ongoing investigation justified locking them away.

The appeals court handed down its decision on February 4, overturning a lower court order that had blocked access under the state public records law. The ruling makes clear that, while copying or publishing might raise other issues, inspection itself is a right when a public agency maintains the records. That clarity ended years of legal wrangling over who gets to see material tied to a public atrocity.

On March 27, 2023, three children and three adults were killed at The Covenant School in Nashville. Families, local media, and civic groups have pressed for transparency ever since, arguing the public has a right to understand what led to such a horrific attack. Those demands collided with a strategy by some intervenors and the city to keep the writings sealed.

The appeals court left little wiggle room about access: petitioners must be allowed to inspect the records in person. The panel drew a legal distinction between viewing material and copying or distributing it, and that distinction proved decisive in undoing the lower court’s approach.

“Simply put, so long as Metro maintains the records, it must allow Petitioners access … for personal inspection.”

That ruling knocked out two main defenses used to keep the writings hidden: a copyright argument and assertions about school safety. The lower court had leaned on both to justify a broad sealing order, but the appellate panel rejected that line of thinking. Inspecting a document for factual context does not automatically equate to authorizing publication.

Davidson County Judge I’Ashea Myles had ruled in August 2024 that copyright claims — which had been transferred from the shooter’s parents to certain Covenant families — preempted public records requests. The appeals court disagreed, holding that federal copyright law does not strip away the state’s obligation to permit personal inspection of records the government holds. That legal reversal undercut the tactic of using copyright as a shield against scrutiny.

The court also addressed safety-based objections head-on, finding those concerns speculative and insufficient to create a new exemption. Judges pushed back on arguments that release would endanger schools when many of the writings dated back years before the attack. The opinion made clear courts cannot invent blanket exceptions to transparency laws based on speculative harms.

“This conclusion strains credulity, and we are neither willing nor able to make the blind logical leap the Covenant Intervenors ask of us.”

Another key moment in the opinion rejected what amounted to a proposed “manifesto exemption” to public records law. Parties sought a broad rule that writings associated with a violent act should automatically remain secret, but the court framed that as policy debate, not statutory text. Judges reminded the parties that the law does not authorize creating new categories of secrecy simply because the material is ugly or disturbing.

“Respectfully, this argument is rooted in speculation about potential future events, not facts present in the record before us. This is a policy debate not contemplated by, or anywhere mentioned in” public records law.

Metro Nashville also repeatedly relied on a theory that Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 and an “ongoing investigation” justified withholding the records. The panel was unpersuaded, noting the shooter was killed by responding officers nearly three years earlier and that the ongoing-investigation argument had been stretched beyond reason. The court demanded legal justification tied to actual investigative needs, not indefinite secrecy.

The copyright transfer itself drew scrutiny. In 2024 the shooter’s parents transferred ownership of the writings to Covenant School families, who then intervened to block access. Judge Myles accepted the transfer and concluded federal copyright law preempted the state public records act, but the appeals court disagreed with that leap. The transfer had the practical effect of privatizing material connected to a public crime, and the appellate panel saw through that maneuver.

Putting those mechanics into plain terms: handing copyright over to private parties and then using that copyright to bar public inspection turns evidence into private property. Whatever the motives, the legal effect was to hide material that could shed light on why six people were killed in a school. The appeals court treated that tactic with skepticism.

• March 2023: The attack. Nashville police initially declined to release the shooter’s writings.
• 2024: The shooter’s parents transferred document ownership to Covenant families.
• August 2024: Judge Myles ruled that copyright preempted public records law.
• December 2025: The FBI released some writings after federal litigation advanced.
• February 4, 2026: The Tennessee Court of Appeals overturned Myles’ decision.

Portions of the writings have already surfaced through the FBI release and media reporting, and those excerpts indicated the shooter targeted the school because of what it represented. Still, city officials and intervenors spent years using every legal avenue they could to prevent full access to the records. The appeals court’s decision removes a major barrier to seeing the full record in person.

Tennessee Star publisher Michael Patrick Leahy, one of the petitioners who sued for access, reacted strongly to the ruling and framed it as a win for transparency and press freedom.

“This unanimous ruling by the Tennessee Court of Appeals is a major victory for freedom of the press, the people of the State of Tennessee, and The Tennessee Star.”

“It is in the public interest for all of these documents to be released to us expeditiously, as the Court of Appeals ruled.”

Leahy was represented by the America First Legal Foundation and joined by a coalition that included firearms, media, and law enforcement organizations, all arguing that the public deserves answers about why six people died. The appeals court remanded the case to the lower court and gave intervenors 60 days to appeal, leaving open the possibility of further litigation. The opinion, for now, puts the law on the side of inspection over secrecy.