State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is officially filing a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Legislature as her effort to conduct an audit of the state’s legislative body, approved by 72% of voters in 2024, continues to play out.

“This morning our office has filed with a single justice at the Supreme Judicial Court requesting that the single justice grants the ability to appoint an attorney of our choosing so we can bring this case before the courts,” DiZoglio told reporters.

“The Supreme Judicial Court has an opportunity to get it right, stand with the people, and increase trust and faith in our state government, including in the courts themselves, and the people of this Commonwealth deserve access to the government they pay for,” she added.

DiZoglio’s office is suing legislative leaders for refusing to comply with the voter-approved audit, specifically naming in the suit House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and the clerks in each chamber.

DiZoglio has tasked her office’s general counsel, Michael Leung, to represent her office in this suit rather than Attorney General Andrea Campbell — who represents the state in court matters.

The lawsuit is seeking relief from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to order Mariano and Spilka to comply with and produce all requested records for the legislative audit, and to appoint outside counsel selected by the Auditor’s office to Special Assistant Attorney General to represent them.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue has offered to pay for outside counsel to represent the Auditor’s office in her effort to carry out the legislative audit. DiZoglio says several other people have offered to represent her office or pay for representation.

“The current audit request simply seeks to make public the financial and state contracting records that are a matter of public record for all other state government entities and every city and town of the Commonwealth,” DiZoglio said. “It is unacceptable that any one of our lawmakers would defend withholding taxpayer-funded financial receipts for state contracts. The speaker, Senate president, and attorney general are taking the position that a legislative audit is somehow unconstitutional, even though the AG deemed it constitutional when she approved it for the ballot.”

“There is no defense for what’s happening right now,” she added. “There is not a defense for it. So if they win on this issue, it’s the foot in the door to block access to records by all agencies. Not just the Legislature, but the Judiciary, and not just the Judiciary, but now Executive Branch agencies are working to block audits.”

But DiZoglio says while she is seeking the approval of a single justice, her confidence in the Massachusetts court system is “at an all-time low,” continuing to slam Campbell for influencing the courts to stand in the way as well.

“It is really hard right now to trust that we are going to get a fair hearing, but it’s all we have. Where else are we going to go?” DiZoglio asked, mentioning how two state judges have recently decided against her request to utilize outside counsel and compel lawmakers to comply with the audit.

She says the motivation of state lawmakers and justices to stand in the way of an audit is to “hide their own law-breaking and to protect their friends.”

“Everybody knows that folks up here have conversations behind the scenes, that a lot of business gets done behind closed doors. That’s where decisions get made. They get made in the speaker’s office, they get made at the Senate president’s office. And that’s the way that the Legislature operates,” DiZoglio said.

“It’s not okay what’s happening. This is not just about an audit anymore. This behavior is permeating state government and is causing people to lose trust and faith in their state government, in their leaders, in their courts, in the lawmakers, across the board. So we have a lot of work to do,” she said.

Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton has announced that he’s separately joining a group of Massachusetts taxpayers in filing a lawsuit to prevent unlawful expenditures of public funds by the Legislature. Deaton’s suit seeks to compel the Legislature to comply with the same audit DiZoglio is pursuing.

“As someone who grew up among and still fights for working families, parents, and vulnerable residents, an audit would ensure taxpayer dollars actually reach the people who need them most. In a parallel effort to ensure accountability, this lawsuit creates a targeted pause on new discretionary federal grants and matching funds,” said Deaton in a press release, adding that he is calling this effort “The Democratic Accountability & Transparency (DAT) Squeeze.”

The proposal calls on the federal government to immediately suspend the flow of non-essential, non-emergency, discretionary administrative and capital funding to Massachusetts in an attempt to impact the state’s political leadership until the Legislature agrees to open its books.

“Seventy-two percent of you went to the polls and voted overwhelmingly to approve the legislative audit. But even after that ballot pressure became law, the Legislature would not comply. And although the attorney general claims she supported the legislative audits, she’s repeatedly refused to use the power of her office to enforce this law,” DiZoglio said.

“This is your money and you deserve to know how it’s being spent. And I know I’m not telling anyone here today anything that you already don’t know, but Massachusetts is the only state in the nation that allows our governor, Legislature, and Judiciary to exempt themselves from the state’s public office laws,” she said.

The legislative leaders named in the lawsuit did not immediately respond with a comment.