CONCORD — Local media will be allowed to attend oral arguments before the New Hampshire Supreme Court today in a case regarding whether parents accused of child abuse and neglect have the right to legal counsel, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Attorney Gregory V. Sullivan of Malloy & Sullivan, on behalf of New Hampshire Public Radio and the New Hampshire Union Leader, petitioned the state Supreme Court on Monday to open the proceeding. An Associated Press reporter also petitioned the court for access.

On Monday afternoon, the court ruled the session will be open to the public because the attorneys involved did not object and no confidential information is expected to be revealed.

“Although certain briefs and other filings in this case contain confidential information, the court understands from discussions with counsel who are scheduled to argue the case that counsel do not intend to reveal any confidential information during the course of oral argument,” the court wrote in its ruling.

The hearing had been deemed confidential because it involved a child-abuse case; such cases are typically closed to the public.

But Sullivan said the merits of the child-abuse allegations were not being argued, rather whether the accused parent has a right to legal counsel.

“While court proceedings in abuse and neglect cases are closed by statute ... the public interest in this case is not attached to the substance of the underlying abuse and neglect proceedings,” wrote Sullivan. “The public has a right to access a hearing on the issue of whether New Hampshire citizens are being deprived of their constitutionally protected due process rights.”

This case began shortly after state budget cuts removed funding for state-appointed attorneys for indigent parents accused in child-abuse or neglect cases. Under the new state law, parents must pay for their own attorneys or represent themselves. New Hampshire Legal Assistance, which represents low-income people who cannot afford a lawyer, filed a lawsuit on behalf of a parent. According to Elliott Berry, and NHLA attorney, the state's failure to provide counsel for these parents is unconstitutional.

To close records in court proceedings to the public there must be “a sufficiently compelling reason,” Sullivan argued in Monday's petition, but none of the interested parties in the case gave any reason to close the hearing.

“The public should play a significant role in the process of budget cutting and prioritizing New Hampshire's resources,” wrote Sullivan. “The public should be informed and aware of the proceedings upon which the fate of a previously determined fundamental right is being decided.”

The state's decision to end funding for attorneys in neglect and child-abuse cases has concerned both state officials and civil-rights advocates. In these cases, parents are not only upset when their children are removed from the home, but often also have disabilities, mental illness, poor educations or limited English language skills, Berry told the Union Leader last month.

It also raises the question of justice and fairness, said Judge Edwin Kelly, who oversees the administration of family courts.

“If you are a person of means and accused of abuse and neglect, you always have the right to hire a lawyer,” said Kelly. “Those people have money and can hire a lawyer to represent them. Those who do not cannot hire a lawyer to represent them, which presents an issue in itself.”