UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

_________________________________________

)

THE LEGACY FOUNDATION )

600 Fourth Street, Suite 360 )

Sioux City, IA 51101 )

 )

Plaintiff, )

)

v. ) Civil Case No. _________________

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION )

1050 First Street Northeast )

Washington, D.C. 20463 )

)

Defendant. )

_________________________________________ )

COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

NOW COMES Plaintiff, The Legacy Foundation (“Plaintiff” or “The Foundation”), and 

states as follows:

INTRODUCTION

1. The Foundation brings this action under the Freedom of Information Act 

(“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, as amended, challenging the Federal Election Commission’s (“FEC” 

or “Commission”) failure to fulfill Plaintiff’s request for records related to the communications 

FEC Commissioner Weintraub and Commissioner Weintraub’s staff had with individuals and 

entities outside the Commission. 

2. The FEC is an agency of the federal government and oversees the enforcement of 

the nation’s campaign finance laws. The FEC and its officers are tasked with administering its 

role in a way that is fair and transparent. 

Case 1:19-cv-01389-CKK Document 1 Filed 05/14/19 Page 1 of 7
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3. The Foundation seeks disclosure of records exchanged between Commissioner 

Weintraub and her staff and individuals affiliated with Mother Jones, Citizens for Responsibility 

and Ethics in Washington (“CREW”), and Campaign Legal Center from August 1, 2017 through 

the present. 

4. The Foundation seeks declaratory relief that the FEC is in violation of FOIA for 

failing to fulfil Plaintiff’s request for records. Plaintiff also seeks injunctive relief that the FEC 

immediately and completely comply with the Foundation’s FOIA request. Further, Plaintiff 

seeks fees and costs pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(E). 

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

5. This Court has both subject matter and personal jurisdiction over the parties and 

claims pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B) and 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Venue lies with this district 

under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B) and 28 U.S.C. § 1391(e)(1). 

6. The Foundation is a nonprofit corporation incorporated in Iowa, organized under 

section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, with its principal place of business in Sioux 

City, IA.

7. The FEC is an independent agency of the United States Government. The FEC is 

charged with the administration and enforcement of federal campaign finance law. The FEC is 

headquartered in Washington, D.C. and its principal office is located at 1050 First Street, NE.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

8. The FEC is tasked with overseeing the compliance regarding public disclosures of 

funds raised and disbursed to influence federal elections, restrictions on receipts and 

expenditures, and the public financing of presidential campaigns.

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9. Commissioner Weintraub is the current Chair of the FEC and has served as a 

commissioner since 2002. This is her third time serving as Chair of the Commission. 

10. The Foundation is a non-profit organization interested in ethics and transparency 

in government. The Foundation sought to review correspondence between Commissioner 

Weintraub or her staff and Mother Jones, CREW, and the Campaign Legal Center.

11. The Freedom of Information ACT (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, requires federal 

agencies to release requested public records unless a statutory exemption applies.

12. An agency has twenty business days to respond to a request, including a 

notification to the requesting party of the agency’s determination of whether to fulfil the request 

and the requester’s right to appeal the agency’s determination. 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(A)(i).

13. An agency may delay its response only in “unusual circumstances” by notifying 

the requesting party of the unusual circumstances and identifying a date when “a determination is 

expected.” Id. “No such notice shall specify a date that would result in an extension of more 

than ten working days . . . .” Id. 

14. The Foundation sent a FOIA request dated February 26, 2019 (the “Request”), to 

the FEC requesting, for the period August 1, 2017 to the present, inter alia, “any and all records . 

. . existing in any format whatsoever . . . between” Commissioner Weintraub and Mother Jones, 

CREW, and the Campaign Legal Center. The Foundation notified the FEC of its ability and 

intention to pay for the costs of the request pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(III). A true 

and correct copy of the February 26 letter is included as Appendix A and is incorporated hereto 

for all purposes. 

15. The FEC received the Request on February 27, 2019 and stated that the search for 

responsive records would be initiated. The FEC assigned it the tracking number 2019-43.

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16. Having received no additional correspondence regarding the Request, the 

Foundation sent an email inquiring into the status of the Request on April 15, 2019. 

17. The FEC responded to Plaintiff’s April 15, 2019 correspondence with an email 

the following day, April 16, 2019, stating, “[w]e are currently working with Chair Weintraub’s 

office to search for and process this request.” A true and correct copy of the Foundation’s April 

15, 2019 email and the FEC’s April 16, 2019, email response is attached as Appendix B and is 

incorporated hereto for all purposes. 

18. Since the April 15, 2019 and April 16, 2019 correspondence, there have been no 

further communications with the FEC. 

19. The FEC has failed to comply with the statutory deadline of twenty business days, 

as required by FOIA under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A). And, though no unusual circumstances 

providing for a ten-day extension under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B) have been given, that deadline 

has now expired as well. More than fifty business days have passed since the Foundation filed 

the Request on February 26. No records have been produced and the FEC has given no 

indication as to whether there are responsive records related to the Request.

20. The Foundation has exhausted all administrative remedies and may proceed 

directly to this Court. See Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington v. Fed. Election 

Comm’n, 711 F.3d 180, 186 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (a requestor exhausts its remedies unless, within 

the relevant time period, the agency “inform[s] the requester of the scope of the documents that 

the agency will produce, as well as the scope of the documents that the agency plans to withhold 

under any FOIA exemptions”); Id. at 189 (“If the agency does not adhere to FOIA’s explicit 

timelines, the ‘penalty’ is that the agency cannot rely on the administrative exhaustion 

requirement to keep cases from getting into court.”); see also 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(C)(i) 

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(“Any person making a request to any agency for records . . . shall be deemed to have exhausted 

his administrative remedies with respect to such request if the agency fails to comply with the 

applicable time limit provisions of this paragraph.”).

21. The Foundation has a statutory right of access to the records it seeks, and there is 

no legal basis for the FEC to withhold those documents.

22. To date, The Foundation has not received any documents from the FEC in 

response to its Request, nor has it received any of the statutorily required communications or 

notices from the FEC.

COUNT 

(Failure to Produce Records Pursuant to FOIA)

23. The Foundation re-alleges and incorporates by reference all preceding paragraphs. 

24. The Foundation properly requested records in its February 26, 2019 request and 

the requested records are within the FEC’s custody and control. 

25. Defendant FEC has failed to produce any of the records pursuant to the Request

and has made no claim for a statutory exemption or extension. 

26. Defendant FEC, in failing to produce the requested records, has violated FOIA’s

plain language. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A); see also 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B). 

27. The Foundation has exhausted all applicable administrative remedies with respect 

to the FEC’s failure to respond to the Request.

28. Accordingly, The Foundation is entitled to injunctive and declaratory relief with 

respect to the disclosure and release of the records pursuant to the Request. 

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

Wherefore, Plaintiff, The Legacy Foundation, prays for the following relief:

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1. A declaratory judgment that Defendant FEC has violated the Freedom of 

Information Act by failing to timely respond to the Request; 

2. An Order from this Court that the FEC is to immediately process and release all 

records responsive to the Request;

3. A preliminary and a permanent injunction enjoining Defendant FEC from 

withholding records responsive to the Request from The Legacy Foundation;

4. A ruling that this Court retain jurisdiction of this action to ensure that the FEC 

properly and lawfully responds to the Request thus ensuring that no records are withheld;

5. An award to The Foundation of costs and reasonable attorney’s fees pursuant to 5 

U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(E); and

6. A grant of any and all other relief that the Court may deem just and proper. 

Dated: May 13, 2019.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Jason Torchinsky

JASON B. TORCHINSKY

(D.C. Bar No. 976033)

jtorchinsky@hvjt.law

Counsel of Record

JONATHAN P. LIENHARD

(D.C. Bar No. 474253)

jlienhard@hvjt.law

PHILLIP M. GORDON

(D.C. Bar No. 1531277)

pgordon@hvjt.law

Attorneys for Plaintiff

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I do hereby certify that, on this 14th day of May 2019, the foregoing Complaint was filed 

electronically with the Clerk of Court using the CM/ECF system. The following parties were 

served by USPS First Class Mail on May 15th.

Federal Election Commission

1050 First Street Northeast

Washington, DC 20463

And

Attorney General William Barr

c/o Assistant U.S. Attorney of Administration

Justice Management Division

950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Room 1111

Washington, D.C. 20530

Jessie K. Liu

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia

Civil Process Clerk

555 4th St. N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20530

 /s/ Jason Torchinsky

JASON TORCHINSKY

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