Lawsuit by Daily Caller News Foundation and Judicial Watch Denied Release of Requested Records
Delaware – The Delaware Supreme Court ruled in favor of the University of Delaware on Thursday, denying the release of President Joe Biden’s Senate records in a lawsuit filed by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) and Judicial Watch.
Following the university’s denial of the records requested by the DCNF through the state’s public records act, both the DCNF and Judicial Watch appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court in January 2023. Their appeal came after the state’s Superior Court had determined that the university had adequately met the burden of proof to justify withholding the requested records. However, the Delaware Supreme Court, in its ruling on Thursday, upheld the judgement of the Superior Court, thereby preventing the release of the documents that were subject to the public records requests made by both organizations on April 30, 2020.
“The public has a significant interest in these documents,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told the DCNF. “If the Delaware courts are going to protect Biden from having to produce them or the secret deal that keeps them away from the American people, then Congress should get involved.”
Documents requested by the DCNF, which now will not be released, include agreements relating to the storage of 1,850 boxes and 415 gigabytes of records from 1973 to 2009, communications between university staff and Biden’s staff, log sheets of individuals who have visited the collection and the actual records in the collection.
The records may contain information relating to Tara Reade, who accused Biden of sexually assaulting her while working in his senate office in 1993, or the president’s son Hunter Biden, who recently pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm while using a controlled substance and for failing to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018.
Biden’s records have been housed at the University of Delaware Library since 2012. He gave them to the university on the condition that they would not be publicly released until “they have been properly processed and archived,” according to the university’s website.
During oral arguments for the case in June, legal counsel representing the university told the Delaware Supreme Court it could determine whether public funds were used to support Biden’s papers without looking at the records.