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President Donald Trump listens to a question from a newsman arsenic helium meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte successful the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, successful Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
The Trump administration is violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to merchandise records related to agreements with 9 Big Law firms to supply astir $1 cardinal successful escaped ineligible services to the government, according to a transparency-focused watchdog group.
In a 16-page complaint filed Thursday, American Oversight accuses the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Justice of repeatedly violating FOIA laws by failing to merchandise assorted sorts of requested accusation astir the arguable arrangements.
The suit comes successful effect to a marquee dual-pronged effort by the 2nd Trump medication with respect to Big Law's beingness and inferior wrong the highest echelons of governmental power.
On 1 hand, President Donald Trump, successful a bid of enforcement orders and statesmanlike memorandums, targeted firms' entree to specified powerfulness — by canceling contracts, barring attorneys' entree to authorities buildings, and blacklisting affiliated businesses. On the different hand, the 9 firms were capable to forgo specified targeting by agreeing to supply millions of dollars successful pro bono ineligible services.
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American Oversight is focused connected the "sweeping arrangements" with Paul Weiss, Skadden, Willkie Farr, Milbank, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher, Kirkland & Ellis, A&O Shearman, and Cadwalader, according to a press release announcing the litigation.
To date, those firms person signed agreements with the authorities to supply betwixt $40 cardinal and $125 cardinal successful ineligible services toward efforts supported by the 45th and 47th president.
"When elite instrumentality firms determine it's safer to appease governmental powerfulness than uphold the regularisation of law, the nationalist deserves to cognize what was bargained away," American Oversight Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said successful a statement. "Lawyers curse an oath to service the nationalist and the Constitution, not wantonness rule erstwhile it threatens their bottommost line. Yet these firms capitulated, engaging successful anticipatory obedience to unafraid extortion and profit."
The suit cites "public reporting" by NPR, ABC News and The New York Times which suggests the firms moving for the authorities person geared their services toward commercialized deals, migration enforcement efforts, and defending members of instrumentality enforcement.
Notably, however, the suit acknowledges "the scope of the services included successful these agreements is unclear."
To that end, passim October, the nonprofit submitted "eight FOIA requests to Commerce and DOJ seeking records with the imaginable to shed airy connected national authorities enactment related to the 9 instrumentality firms that person agreed to supply astir $1 cardinal worthy of escaped ineligible services for the Trump Administration," according to the filing.
The Commerce Department, for its part, acknowledged receipt of 1 specified petition successful aboriginal December — and besides took the accidental to invoke an "unusual circumstances" clip extension.
In that invocation, the Commerce Department cited the request to "search for, collect, and appropriately analyse a voluminous magnitude of abstracted and chiseled records that are the taxable of a azygous request; and the request to consult, which shall beryllium conducted with each practicable speed, with different Federal bureau having a important involvement successful the determination of the FOIA petition oregon with different constituent of the Department which has a important involvement successful the determination of the FOIA request," according to the lawsuit.
And then, the Commerce Department ceased communication, according to the plaintiffs.
"As of the day of this Complaint, American Oversight has received nary further communications from Commerce regarding this FOIA request," the suit reads.
In succession, a bid of akin requests were filed. Those requests tally the gamut — the radical filed FOIA bids for assorted communications from some agencies related to the instrumentality steadfast deals, assorted contracts related to those deals, and applicable ineligible analyses.
The litigation describes the "legal analyses" petition arsenic follows:
Records reflecting immoderate last ineligible proposal and investigation (including some ceremonial ineligible analyses and memoranda, arsenic good arsenic informal physics communications) regarding instrumentality firms conducting pro bono, discounted, and/or escaped enactment for the national government, including, but not constricted to, whether specified arrangements comply with the Antideficiency Act and/or different national statutes.
In sum, the authorities likewise cited "unusual circumstances" for 5 of the group's 8 requests, according to the lawsuit. In 3 different instances, the authorities did not mention "unusual circumstances" but different failed to respond wrong the statutory timeline for FOIA requests, the plaintiffs allege.
"As of the day of this Complaint, Defendants person failed to: (a) notify American Oversight of a last determination regarding American Oversight's FOIA requests, including the scope of responsive records Defendants mean to nutrient oregon withhold and the reasons for immoderate withholdings; oregon (b) nutrient the requested records oregon show that the requested records are lawfully exempt from production," the suit reads.
The suit is premised connected 2 causes of enactment — an alleged nonaccomplishment to behaviour capable searches for responsive records, and the alleged wrongful withholding of non-exempt responsive records.
The plaintiffs are asking the justice to bid the bureau defendants to behaviour a hunt oregon searches reasonably calculated to uncover each records responsive to American Oversight's FOIA requests" and to nutrient specified records wrong 20 days of specified a would-be tribunal bid — oregon to supply a withholding excuse by a day the justice "deems appropriate."
The suit besides seeks an injunction barring the authorities from withholding immoderate specified responsive records.
"They entered sweeping, secretive agreements with the precise medication targeting them, and their enactment present advances the president's governmental docket astatine the public's expense," Chukwu went on. "That is unacceptable. These records indispensable beryllium released truthful the American radical tin spot the presumption of these deals and clasp institutions accountable erstwhile they take compliance implicit principle. And accountability indispensable follow."
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