HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has taken up the question of how much the Legislature must disclose when it comes to the legal bills paid by state taxpayers when lawmakers get into legal trouble.

The court on Monday issued directions to lawyers about the topics it wanted addressed in the state Senate’s appeal of a lower-court decision in favor of The Associated Press.

The court’s order said issues include whether Commonwealth Court correctly ruled that the lawmakers’ identities and legal services they receive are not protected by lawyer-client privilege. The Senate had provided contracts and bills in August 2010, but some information was blacked out, and the AP appealed the redactions.

The justices also plan to address issues regarding how the request and appeal were handled under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law.

The order granting appeal asked whether agencies must address all challenges in their initial response to a request for information under the open records law or waive the right to pursue them later, and whether Commonwealth Court should have reviewed the documents in private and sought an affidavit to support the redactions made before documents were partially released.

The AP sought details of bills and payments for legal services provided to former Sen. Bob Mellow and his staff. Mellow, D-Lackawanna, served for many years as floor leader before he retired in 2010. Mellow, 69, pleaded guilty last week to a federal conspiracy charge related to his time in office.