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.

[3]: 2–4  The Associated Press surmised that CNN was trying to determine whether the officers coordinated efforts to cover up the true circumstances behind McDonald's death.

By 2018, journalists and citizen activists would file at least 10 appeals to the Public Access Counselor after Chicago officials blocked requests for records related to the murder of McDonald.

Attorney Matt Topic, a FOIA expert based in Chicago, suggested that executive branch employees may still be required to disclose their records because they act on the public body's behalf.

[9] An internal investigation had found that Wise intentionally evaded FOIA by using her personal account when discussing sensitive topics (such as the Steven Salaita hiring controversy) and subsequently deleting those emails.

[11] In May 2016, the Circuit Court of Cook County cited City of Champaign when it ruled that personal emails of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel may be subject to disclosure, even when stored on private devices.

[a][3] It rejected CPD's arguments, ruling that officers' emails about public business are subject to disclosure, even when sent on private devices.

[7]: 13  The opinion cited a federal appellate court decision, Competitive Enterprise Institute v. Office of Science and Technology Policy,[b] noting that "an agency always acts through its employees and officials.

[16][17] The ruling was a binding opinion, a rare power that is exercised by the Attorney General in only less than 0.5 percent of complaints submitted to the Public Access Counselor.

[c][18] CPD was required to comply by searching the officers' email accounts, or file for administrative review in the Circuit Court of Cook or Sangamon County within 35 days.

[3]: 13 CPD appealed the ruling in the Circuit Court of Cook County,[d] maintaining that the officers' private emails are not subject to public disclosure.

In CPD's view, FOIA does not impose such a requirement, as the law does not provide a way for a public body to force its employees to grant access to private email accounts.

[8]: 21–22 CPD lost the appeal on September 20, 2017,[10] with Judge Pamela McLean Meyerson writing, "Government operations in a free society must not be shrouded in secrecy.

[16] Charles N. Davis, dean of the Grady College at the University of Georgia, commented that the opinion "correctly focuses on the question whether the communication is intended to memorialize public business ...

If officials and employees continued to conduct public business on personal devices, Brown suggested that such communications should be forwarded to government accounts, to help facilitate responses to future FOIA requests.