Terris, Pravlik & Millian, LLP v. District of Columbia
DC Superior Court, Case No. 2020-CA-3087-B
In 2020, Terris, Pravlik & Millian, LLP (TPM) brought a DC Freedom of Information Act (DC FOIA) case against the District of Columbia. TPM asked the D.C. Superior Court to order the District to turn over budget materials that reflect determinations by D.C. agencies about how much money they need to do their work. D.C. law requires that information be made public and posted on a District website.
TPM won in the Superior Court. The Mayor appealed, arguing that the transparency imposed by statute would violate the D.C. Charter. TPM was supported on appeal by the Council of the District of Columbia, the D.C. Open Government Coalition, the ACLU of D.C., the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, Public Citizen, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Washington, D.C. Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, all of which appeared as amici curiae.
The D.C. Court of Appeals, like the Superior Court, rejected the Mayor’s argument that she was entitled to withhold the documents and remanded the case for the Superior Court to clarify exactly what information must be publicly posted and when. The Court of Appeals underscored the importance of this issue, stating:
“The generation that made the nation . . . committed itself to the principle that a democracy cannot function unless the people are permitted to know what their government is up to.” U.S. Dep’t of Just. v. Reps. Comm. for Freedom of Press, 489 U.S. 749, 772-73 (1989) (emphasis in original) (quoting EPA v. Mink, 410 U.S. 73, 80 (1973) (Douglas, J., dissenting)); see also Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft, 303 F.3d 681, 683 (6th Cir. 2002) (“Democracies die behind closed doors.”). That principle has informed decades of case law under the Federal Freedom of Information Act and informs our case law under the District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act (D.C. FOIA).
The District thereafter still failed to produce the budget documents and place them online and TPM moved for contempt. On February 11, 2025, the Superior Court held the District in contempt and set a deadline for production and a plan for further action on the case. If the District fails to meet this deadline, the Court will impose a daily fine of $1,500 until compliance is achieved.
The determinations by D.C. agencies about how much money they need to do their work were sought as part of TPM’s work monitoring an injunction related to special education on behalf of preschoolers with disabilities (in DL v. District of Columbia) and will be of value to many in the District, including the D.C. Council, which has a long simmering dispute with the Mayor over access to these very documents.
Contact Todd Gluckman at tgluckman@tpmlaw.com or 202-204-8482 with any questions.