The Trump administration is being taken to court by a First Amendment advocacy group demanding transparency over agreements made with certain law firms. Through legal action, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University aims to enforce compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which empowers citizens to request access to federal records.

In a 14-page legal filing, the Institute argues that the administration has failed to respond to their FOIA request, submitted in May, within the legally mandated 20-business-day period. Instead, they have either been met with silence or told by the Office of Information Policy that their request falls under “unusual circumstances,” with no timeline for a response.

The Knight First Amendment Institute contends that this lack of action undermines the principles of the transparency law.

The lawsuit highlights, “An indefinite delay—up to two years without a final determination, coupled with OIP’s refusal to negotiate a timeframe or narrow the request’s scope—amounts to a constructive denial of the FOIA request.” It further accuses the government of violating FOIA by not waiving search, review, and duplication fees for the plaintiff.

“An indefinite delay—here, up to two years without a final determination and where OIP has refused to engage with Plaintiff regarding an alternative time frame for processing or narrowing the scope of the request—is tantamount to a constructive denial of a FOIA request,” the lawsuit reads. “Defendants” failure to unconditionally grant Plaintiff’s request for a waiver of search, review, and duplication fees violates FOIA.”

To explain why they are seeking the records, the pro-First Amendment group recounted the first months of the current administration — and the account is not kind to President Donald Trump.

“Since January 2025, President Donald Trump has undertaken an unprecedented campaign to punish law firms whose clients, causes, or personnel he disfavors. Through a series of executive orders and presidential memoranda, the Trump Administration has directed federal agencies to target individual firms, including by scrutinizing their internal employment policies,” the filing reads.

The filing maintains that less than three months into the new federal government, at least nine law firms “under pressure” from the president “capitulated by striking agreements with the Trump Administration” largely by reducing or eradicating programs concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

“Despite the significance of these agreements to public understanding of the Trump Administration’s efforts to punish its political opponents, the agreements are not public,” the lawsuit reads.

The Knight First Amendment Institute referred to these law firms as “targeted” ones. It wants the administration to be required to “conduct a thorough search” for the relevant records and have the Southern District of New York court “[d]eclare that Defendants have violated FOIA by improperly withholding the Requested Documents” and order them to be released.

The nonprofit organization has taken aim at Trump before.

In July, they reminded U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that three months had passed since they urged her to lift an injunction blocking the release of then-special counsel Jack Smith’s full report on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe and erstwhile Espionage Act prosecution of Trump.

Several months before that, the Knight Center urged a federal court to add The Associated Press back into the select group of journalists who make up the White House “press pool” against the wishes of the administration.