ACLU of Delaware v. Dept. of Justice

It is vital to our democracy for Delawareans to be able to easily access public records for public institutions in our state.

On April 7, 2025, the ACLU of Delaware submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Delaware Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking various records, including invoices the private law firm Saul Ewing charged DOJ for representation as special counsel on two different cases. Even though both cases are currently pending before the same court, DOJ only released records for one case without explaining why they claimed identical records for the second case were subject to a litigation exception.

ACLU-DE submitted a second FOIA request to DOJ on May 15, 2025. To this request, DOJ responded that they had "no responsive records," despite the fact that some of the requested records not only exist but were disclosed in prior FOIA requests.

DOJ's inadequate and inaccurate responses to FOIA requests impedes the public's access to information they are rightfully entitled to have. As an organization that values government transparency, we will always fight to uphold the spirit of FOIA and the right of the people to be informed.