Case Name: Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty v. United States Department of Justice
Type of Case: Open Records
Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Case Number: 2017-CV-229
Filed On: February 21, 2017
Current Status: Records produced; case dismissed
The United States Department of Justice spent four years investigating claims that Wisconsin choice schools were illegally discriminating against students with disabilities. While the DOJ alleged that choice schools were violating federal law, in the end their investigation found no wrongdoing.
On January 14, 2016, shortly after the investigation concluded, WILL filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records regarding the investigation, including any communications between DOJ and Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction. The DOJ ignored the request for over a year, and WILL filed suit to compel compliance with FOIA.
After being sued, the DOJ produced over 1,000 pages of responsive records, and we dismissed the case.