Judicial Watch just struck another blow for the American people’s “right to know” and against government secrecy, this time on behalf of a law-abiding Pennsylvania mother who dared to seek public documents and ask questions about school shutdown policies during Covid.

We are America’s largest “open records” litigator…we file more lawsuits than anyone else to break through government secrecy and let the American people know what our government is doing!

And we win…but the costs are enormous and we are fighting at all levels of government.

That’s why I hope you will join us today and help us keep winning with a special tax-deductible gift!

Here’s what happened in Pennsylvania…

Back in early 2022, our client, Megan Brock, sent a request under Pennsylvania’s “Right-To-Know” (RTK) law requesting correspondence between key Bucks County local government and school official related to Covid restrictions and the reopening of the county’s schools. 

After the county denied her request, Brock appealed to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, which ruled in her favor and ordered the county to release the documents to her…

…but instead of releasing the documents, the county sued her!

Talk about government arrogance and intimidation!

Politics may have played a part, too, as Megan was a leader in fighting to re-open Bucks County schools during Covid, which was opposed by two Democratic commissioners (who may have overruled the county’s own health director, a strong advocate for in-person learning), as well as the administration of Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, a strong proponent of restrictive Covid policies and one-size-fits-all school reopening policies.

Judicial Watch was proud to represent Megan in the two lawsuits she filed against the county, and on April 28^th a Bucks County judge ruled that the county acted in “bad faith” by withholding from our client records that are, by law, public.

The court ordered the release of those documents to Megan, and also ruled for the county to pay sanctions in the amount of $1,500 in each of the lawsuits (this is the highest amount allowed under the RTK).

Once again, the legal system and the courts worked!

These are tremendous victories for the ‘right to know’ of parents and citizens. Indeed, the Court recognized the bad faith of the outrageous government lawsuits filed against our client!

You know probably know how successful Judicial Watch is are in suing the federal government over its secrecy…but you may not know how often we also are in courts across the country fighting for American citizens’ “right to know” against state and local governments.

And fighting state and local government bureaucracies is just as time-consuming and costly as fighting the federal government!

(In fact, Bucks County is actually appealing the court decision that threw out its baseless lawsuits against Megan…all levels of government have deep pockets when it comes to lawsuits!)

And the fact is that government at all levels is secretive, and government officials don’t want to share information with us. 

But fighting government secrecy is what Judicial Watch does better than anyone else…and that includes digging in and getting to the facts about government response to Covid!

That’s why Judicial Watch successfully fought to release federal government records (from both the Trump and Biden administrations) about U.S. taxpayer funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, which recently revealed stunning information about how our support of this Chinese Communist facility may have directly supported the spread of Covid.

And it is why we were so proud to represent Megan Brock when she was being hounded by her county government for simply exercising her right to ask questions and see public documents to learn what her local government was doing when making critically important decisions about their public schools during the pandemic.

Megan recently sent a note to our entire Judicial Watch team. I want to share with you something she wrote in it:

“When the rule of law is not upheld, the dignity of human beings is destroyed…it was clear that you are not only defending the rule of and the rights of citizens, you are truly fighting to preserve the human dignity of every American…Thank you for all the support you have given myself and my family. I pray that God continues to bless you in the good work you are doing!”

I hope you will help us today so we can continue to so effectively use the courts and the legal system to fight for our right to know…and to fight for law-abiding citizens like Megan Brock!

I would be very grateful you would join our Judicial Watch team with a special contribution today.

Sincerely,

Thomas Fitton
President