Illinois Public Access Opinion 16-006

Illinois Public Access Opinion 16‑006 is a binding opinion of the Illinois Attorney General pursuant to that state's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Issued in 2016 in the aftermath of the police murder of Laquan McDonald, the opinion addressed a public records request from Cable News Network (CNN) for emails by officers of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) related to the incident, which were on the officers' personal email accounts. After the CPD denied CNN's request, the Attorney General's office, led by Lisa Madigan, ruled that the police officers' email messages about McDonald's murder were subject to public disclosure, even though those messages were communicated on personal accounts outside of the police department's email servers.

A prior appellate court decision in City of Champaign v. Madigan had established that communications about public business on personal electronic devices may be subject to disclosure. However, the scope of that decision applied only during public meetings convened by a city council or other public body, and it was unclear how it would apply to employees. In Public Access Opinion 16‑006, the Attorney General found that the police officers were acting on behalf of the police department, making their messages public records of the police department. Nonetheless, CNN never received the emails that it had requested, even after it went to court to enforce the Attorney General's opinion.