Wilmington, DE — Last week, the Superior Court of Delaware ruled in favor of the ACLU of Delaware’s case against the Delaware Department of Justice (DOJ). The case alleged that DOJ was impeding public access to information in violation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by failing to provide invoices from cases in which DOJ had hired outside counsel.
ACLU-DE filed the case on July 8, 2025, after receiving inadequate responses from DOJ to FOIA requests for multiple records in the months prior. In April of 2025, DOJ failed to disclose all the requested invoices from the private law firm Saul Ewing. The invoices were charged to DOJ for representation as special counsel on two separate cases. Both cases were pending before the same court, yet DOJ released records for only one case, claiming without explanation that the other case invoices were subject to a “litigation exception.”
In May of 2025, ACLU-DE submitted yet another FOIA request, to which 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.
“Democracy depends on public access to public records,” said Andrew Bernstein, Civic Engagement Counsel at ACLU-DE. “The public has a right to know where tax dollars are going so that they can be fully informed citizens.”
On June 11, 2026, the Court reversed DOJ’s denial of the FOIA request and ordered the invoices to be disclosed.
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