Dramatic Rise in FOIA Lawsuits Filed by Nonprofit Advocacy Groups

The number of FOIA lawsuits filed by nonprofit and advocacy organizations has generally grown over the past two decades, irrespective of which political party was in office — from the George W. Bush administration, through President Obama’s eight years, and continuing during Donald Trump’s first months as president. These findings emerge from a detailed study of court records by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data research center at Syracuse University.

Even a casual perusal of the plaintiffs in FOIA suits filed week after week reveals that there are a small number of advocacy organizations that appear again and again. Indeed, the widely recognized champion among FOIA filers is Judicial Watch, Inc.The FOIA Project found that this single organization has been responsible for an astounding one out of every five FOIA lawsuits filed by all nonprofit groups since 2001!