PrepTest 141, Section 2, Question 12

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A
  Correct

  Prior consent from most of the other members is now required before the chairperson may release the report. The chairperson didn't consult any of them about release, so the required approval wasn't obtained. Under this rule, the release was not permissible. Notice that this is actual consent in advance, not merely a guess that the members would have agreed.

• B

  Signing the report isn't necessarily authorizing its public release. Members could agree with its content and still expect a separate decision about publication. More importantly, B gives no rule showing that releasing it without consultation was wrong. The signatures don't close that gap.

• C

  This would rule out release if a member had serious reservations about the report's content. But we aren't told that anyone had those reservations. Failing to consult people doesn't establish that they disagree with the report. We have a rule here without the fact needed to apply it.

• D

  Perhaps every member would have agreed if asked. D's condition could then be satisfied even though nobody was actually consulted. That's why this differs from A: A requires consent to have been given first; D asks what people would have said in a hypothetical consultation. We don't know that the chairperson fails D's condition.

• E

  A preference against release doesn't establish that the chairperson was obliged to honor that preference. Some members might prefer privacy while the chairperson is authorized to publish anyway. We'd still need a rule connecting those preferences with what the chairperson should have done.