Delaware Supreme Court hearing tomorrow re: Biden’s Senate records being kept secret

Judicial Watch has announced that an argument will be held tomorrow (Wednesday) in the Supreme Court of Delaware on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on behalf of the watchdog group and the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding the secret deal keeping President Biden’s Senate records from being made public.  (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. University of Delaware)

Judicial Watch had filed an April 30, 2020, FOIA request for:

• All records regarding the proposed release of the records pertaining to former Vice President Joe Biden’s tenure as a Senator that have been housed at the University of Delaware Library since 2012. This request includes all related records of communication between the University of Delaware and any other records created pertaining to any meeting of the Board of Trustees during which the proposed release of the records was discussed.
• All records of communication between any representative of the University of Delaware and former Vice President Biden or any other individual acting on his behalf between January 1, 2018, and the present.

On April 30, the Daily Caller News Foundation submitted its FOIA request to the University for:

• All agreements concerning the storage of more than 1,850 boxes of archival records and 415 gigabytes of electronic records from Joe Biden’s senate career from 1973 through 2009.
• Communications between the staff of the University of Delaware Library and Joe Biden or his senatorial, vice-presidential or political campaign staff, or for anyone representing any of those entities between 2010 [April 30,2020] about Joe Biden’s senate records.
• Any logs or sign-in sheets recording any individuals who have visited the special-collections department where records from Joe Biden’s senate career are stored between 2010 to the date of this request.
• All records from Joe Biden’s Senate career that have been submitted to the University of Delaware Library.

In response to both Judicial Watch’s and the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests, the university claimed, without corroboration, that public funds are not used to support the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Senate papers.

In January 2023, Judicial Watch and the Daily Caller News Foundation filed an appeal brief in the Delaware Supreme Court after the Superior Court sided with the university.

Later that same month, Judicial Watch asked the Supreme Court of Delaware for limited discovery, including, at a minimum, deposing a university representative. The brief argued:

Despite FOIA’s acknowledgement that “public entities, as instruments of government, should not have the power to decide what is good for the public to know,” over the multi-year course of this FOIA proceeding, the University’s efforts to satisfy its statutory burden of proof have been parceled out piecemeal, in miniscule increments, and only in response to court orders, entered after briefing by Appellants.

When the shortcomings of the University’s effort are noted in briefing, the University calls “foul.” The University’s umbrage at these proceedings is misplaced. To date, the FOIA Coordinator’s efforts (and her recollections of what steps she took) remain untested by cross examination. Appellants have every right to challenge what they believe has been a lackluster effort by the University to satisfy its statutory burden.

While in the Senate, Biden served as chairman and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, which would have given him access to classified records. Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney, stated in January 2023 that classified Senate records were discovered during a search at Biden’s Wilmington, DE, home:

The Justice Department “took possession of materials it deemed within the scope of its inquiry, including six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate …”

In January 2023, Special Counsel Robert Hur was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Biden’s potential mishandling of classified documents.

“No more obfuscation. No more excuses. It’s time for the University of Delaware to answer for its refusal to release Biden’s Senate records,” said Michael Bastasch, editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The sketchy secrecy on the Biden Senate records and his deal with the University of Delaware need to end. And President Biden could end the dispute by simply releasing the details about his Senate records. What is Biden hiding?”

Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch President

Judicial Watch and the Daily Caller News Foundation are being represented by Delaware lawyers Ted Kittila and Bill Green of Halloran Farkas + Kittila LLP.

Hearing details:

Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2023