DC Attorney General responds after suit alleges MPD denies, delays public records to certain people
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - DC Attorney General Karl Racine has officially responded in court to the news FOX 5 broke last month that attorney Amy Phillips is suing DC Police for allegedly delaying or denying public information requests for certain attorneys and journalists.
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Anyone has the right to ask the DC government for public records, including police records, and the government has to give us those records unless there is an exception under the law. This is called the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA.
Phillips is alleging the police keep a list of people who publicly criticize MPD and give a slower response to their records requests or even deny them altogether.
The District now says her complaint should be thrown out of court.
Attorney General Racine makes several arguments, including that Phillips doesn't have a legal claim. However, the District's most notable argument is that even if what Phillips alleges about the watchlist is true, the District's interest in maintaining a watchlist policy would outweigh eliminating it.
"From our perspective, what's important about this is that the District, even assuming everything we allege to be true, says that its watchlist policy is consistent with the First Amendment," says an attorney for Phillips, Charlie Gerstein. "That's the District's considered position -- that it is permitted to delay and deny people requests for public information based on their potential to criticize the police."
The District says the burden that would exist on Phillips or anyone on a potential watchlist is minimal and outweighed by the government's interest to provide accurate information to the public.
They say in their court filing, "the minimal burden resulting from any watchlist policy would be far outweighed by the benefits it may create."
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The District also says Phillips doesn't have a right to sue because she can't show a concrete injury from the policy right now. Phillips' attorney said she may update her original complaint to the court with additional information.