The California Department of Justice declined The Center Square’s public records requests into the agency’s spending on lawsuits against the Trump administration, citing attorney-client privilege and a California Supreme Court court ruling that allowed public agencies to withhold ongoing litigation costs from the public.
CADOJ cited L.A. County Board of Supervisors v. Superior Court, a 2016 case in which the California Supreme Court ruled “real-time disclosure of ongoing spending amounts can indirectly reveal clues about legal strategy, especially when multiple amounts over time are compared.”
But government transparency experts say taxpayers have a right to know what the state is doing with their money.
“We as an organization have always thought that ruling sweeps far too broadly,” said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, in an interview with The Center Square. “How much money is spent on public agency litigation is an important thing that the public should be able to know.”
The Center Square requested CADOJ disclose how much it has spent on its lawsuits against the Trump administration, including both through internal resources and outside counsel.
