WILMINGTON, Del. - The Superior Court of Delaware has reversed a previous decision in a case between the ACLU of Delaware and the Delaware Department of Justice. According to the court, the DOJ will now be required to disclose multiple invoices for attorney fees requested by the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act.
The union filed the original case on July 8, 2025. The ACLU said it took this action after the DOJ failed to provide invoices from cases where it hired outside counsel from private law firm Saul Ewing.
In April 2025, the DOJ only released records from one of the two cases where the private law firm represented them. The DOJ said the other case invoices were subject to a litigation exception.
The ACLU said it filed a FOIA request in May 2025 for the records not previously released. The union said the department responded it had no responsive records to ACLU's request, despite some of the records being disclosed in prior FOIA requests.
"Democracy depends on public access to public records," said Andrew Bernstein, civic engagement counsel at Delaware ACLU. "The public has a right to know where tax dollars are going so they can be fully informed citizens."
The court ruled in favor of the ACLU on June 11, 2026 and ordered the invoices to be disclosed.
We have reached out to the DOJ for comment.
