The Iowa Supreme Court will decide whether the University of Iowa violated the state’s open records law by withholding documents about its investigation of a 2007 assault involving football players.

The court plans to rule Friday in a case that’s been closely followed by the news media.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen filed the lawsuit in 2008 after the university refused to release hundreds of records related to its handling of an assault of a female athlete by former Hawkeyes Abe Satterfield and Cedric Everson.

A judge ordered the records released in 2009. The university appealed, contending they are confidential under federal student privacy law.

Both players were convicted of misdemeanor charges. An investigation faulted the university’s response, which cost the school’s top lawyer and dean of students their jobs.