A media advocacy group and the ACLU are asking Missouri's highest court to settle whether the state's prison officials must publicly reveal the source of the drug used to execute prisoners.
The nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the American Civil Liberties Union and other plaintiffs wrote in a filing Wednesday with the Missouri Supreme Court that that court can resolve the issue that's produced conflicting rulings.
The Missouri Department of Corrections has refused to disclose who supplys it with the execution drug pentobarbital, saying identities of such providers are shielded by a state law.
But Wednesday's filing insists that "any resolution of this question directly affects the ability of the public to exercise effective oversight."