Illinois FOIA & OMA, in plain English.
843 Public Access Counselor and Attorney General documents, 298 court cases, and70 fact-checked FAQ answers — every one cited to the real, published document. No account, no paywall.
How this site works
Two ways in — research the law, or get help actually filing something.
Research the law
Search or browse
Full-text search across every opinion, letter, case, and FAQ answer — or browse by exemption, category, or public body.
Read the plain-language summary
Every document gets a checked, plain-English summary and outcome — not just a link to a scanned PDF.
Cite the real opinion
Every summary links straight back to the source PDF, so you can verify it and cite it with confidence.
File something yourself
Draft your FOIA request
A plain JavaScript form — no AI, nothing sent anywhere — walks through what you're asking for and generates a proper Illinois FOIA request letter, entirely in your browser.
Build a request →Appeal to the PAC
Same approach: a form walks through what happened — denied, ignored, ridiculous fee — and generates a Request for Review letter to the Public Access Counselor, with the 60-day filing window calculated for you.
Build an appeal →The corpus, by the numbers
Latest in the corpus
Opinions & determination letters
Documents over time
Full statistics & charts →Start with what you're trying to do
Look up a records request opinion
Browse 495 FOIA opinions & letters — fees, exemptions, denials, deadlines.
OMALook up a meeting-related opinion
Browse 362 OMA opinions & letters — closed sessions, notice, minutes, public comment.
ToolBuild a FOIA request letter
Generate a request in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere.
ReferenceRead the FAQ
Common questions, grouped by topic, every answer cited to a real opinion.
Case lawBrowse court cases
Illinois appellate & Supreme Court decisions addressing FOIA and OMA.
SearchSearch everything
Full-text search across every opinion, letter, case, and FAQ answer.