Cover v. Idaho Board of Correction

Demanding government transparency and sunshine on Idaho's execution practices.

Aliza Cover, represented by the ACLU of Idaho, filed a lawsuit in February 2018 against the Idaho Department of Correction over its refusal to disclose public records regarding the lethal injection drugs it used in state executions as well as information about the origins, purity, sterility, stability and expiration of the drugs.

Cover originally sent a request to the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) in September 2017 to obtain information about the drugs used in Idaho two most recent executions, in addition to any records about efforts to obtain execution drugs for future executions. IDOC denied that request, refusing to provide information about the source and safety of the drugs.

Lethal injection is the only method of execution allowed under Idaho law. The public has a right to know the source of lethal injection drugs and the reputability and safety record of drugs’ suppliers.

We took the case to trial in January 2019. Two months later, in March, an Idaho state court judge ruled that IDOC had withheld records frivolously and in bad faith, and ordered that IDOC disclose many of the previously secret records, including a record identifying the source of the drugs used in Idaho's 2012 execution of Richard Leavitt.

We won access to the records we sought.