(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce for details of the failed “Internet for All” initiative led by then-Vice President Kamala Harris (Judicial Watch Inc. v U.S. Department of Commerce et al. (No. 1:25-cv-00071). The lawsuit was filed on January 10, 2025.
Assistant General Counsel Brian DiGiacomo, also named in the suit, rejected Judicial Watch’s October 16, 2024, FOIA request to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a component of Commerce, for records regarding from certain named officials concerning implementing President Biden’s Infrastructure Law “Internet for All,” including:
- Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary
- April McClain-Delaney, Deputy Assistant Secretary
- Andy Berke, Special Representative for Broadband
- Sarah Morris, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and
Deputy Administrator
Judicial Watch also requested records about the “Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment” (BEAD), a component of the “Internet for All” initiative.
On October 4, 2024, The Wall Street Journal editorial board published an article titled “The Harris Broadband Rollout Has Been a Fiasco,” in which it reported:
The 2021 infrastructure law included $42.5 billion for states to expand broadband to “unserved,” mostly rural, communities. Three years later, ground hasn’t been broken on a single project….
Blame the Administration’s political regulations. States must submit plans to the Commerce Department about how they’ll use the funds and their bidding process for providers. Commerce has piled on mandates that are nowhere in the law and has rejected state plans that don’t advance progressive goals.
Take how the Administration is forcing providers to subsidize service for low-income customers … bidders had to offer a specified “affordable” price. This is rate regulation.
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The Administration has also stipulated hiring preferences for “underrepresented” groups, including “aging individuals,” prisoners, racial, religious and ethnic minorities, “Indigenous and Native American persons,” “LGBTQI+ persons,” and “persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.”
“This broadband project is ripe for being shut down by Congress, President Trump and DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency),” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “In the meantime, the Trump administration should disclose the details of this woke black hole for taxpayer dollars.”
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Source: Judicial Watch
