Jobs, jobs, jobs: A smooth criminal

Trial Att’y, Dep’t of Justice/CRM, GS 15, Wash., DC, closes 7/6/26 (public).

FOIA News: FOIA Technology Inventory Underway

Request for Agency Participation in Developing FOIA Technology Inventory

DOJ-OIP Blog (June 24, 2026)

Today, OIP and OGIS, in collaboration with the Department of the Interior (DOI), request input from federal FOIA programs in the creation of a central FOIA technology inventory.  Once completed, the inventory will serve as a living resource available to federal agencies to help inform FOIA technology acquisition and implementation decisions. 

Read the full post here.

The underlying Chief FOIA Officers Council memorandum about this initiative is available here. That memo highlights how the inventory aims to identify all “FOIA technology solutions used across federal agencies, including case management systems, eDiscovery platforms, document review tools, and related applications and costs.” The inventory would then “serve as a living resource available to federal agencies to help inform FOIA technology acquisition and implementation decisions.”

FOIA News: Notwithstanding FOIA, SSA Moves to Dismiss Palantir Records Suit

The Social Security Administration has moved to dismiss the claims against it in American Oversight v. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, et al., No. 26-1351 (D.D.C.), arguing the court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction because FOIA does not authorize judicial review of SSA's fee determinations made under section 1306(c) of the Social Security Act.

The agency contends that section 1306(c)—which authorizes the agency to charge the full cost of processing non-program-related requests "notwithstanding" FOIA—constitutes an independent fee regime outside FOIA's reach, rendering plaintiff's search and withholding claims premature absent agreement to pay the assessed fees. The motion relies principally on Shapiro v. SSA, 160 F.4th 347 (2d Cir. 2025), and Democracy Forward Found. v. SSA, No. 25-3384, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101010 (D. Md. May 7, 2026), both holding that section 1306(c) fees fall outside FOIA's fee provisions and are not subject to FOIA judicial review. The suit concerns Palantir contracts and data-sharing records at five federal agencies.

See SSA’s motion to dismiss here. The case docket is here.

FOIA News: Will SCOTUS take FOIA case?

The U.S. Supreme Court may decide this week whether to take up the case of Buckley v. DOJ, which centers on how broadly FOIA Exemption 7 should be applied. Buckley, whose bookstore events in Buffalo, NY were monitored by undercover FBI agents, sought records about himself and others, but the FBI withheld most of them under Exemption 7.

On appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed a per se rule that courts need not examine whether records were compiled for a legitimate law enforcement purpose when they come from a law enforcement agency. In a certiorari petition backed by an amicus brief from the Cato Institute, Buckley argues that courts should not apply that per se rule and instead should require a showing that records were actually compiled for a law enforcement purpose.

Stay tuned for the Supreme Court’s cert decision.

See the case docket on SCOTUSblog here.

FOIA News: Biden loses bid to block release of memoir recordings

Judge allows release of Biden memoir audio to Heritage Foundation

By Anthony Thompson, USA TODAY, June 20, 2026

A federal judge ordered the Department of Justice to provide hours of audio recordings from former President Joe Biden’s 2017 memoir interviews to the Heritage Foundation, ruling that the public interest outweighs Biden’s privacy concerns despite his lawsuit to block the disclosure.

A federal judge ruled that hours of audio recordings tied to former President Joe Biden’s 2017 memoir can be turned over to the Heritage Foundation, rejecting his bid to block the disclosure.

In a ruling June 20, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said Biden’s privacy interests, while real, are outweighed by the public’s interest in the materials and the government’s obligation under the Freedom of Information Act to promote transparency.

The decision marks a setback for Biden, who in May sued the Department of Justice in an effort to stop the release of the recordings. The Heritage Foundation has argued the files could show evidence that Biden mishandled classified information, a claim he has denied.

Biden’s legal team immediately moved to seek an injunction pending appeal, signaling an ongoing fight over whether the audio can be released.

Read more here.

Jobs: jobs, jobs: Seven Up

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./CBP, GS 7-9, Wash., DC, closes 6/24/26 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Commerce/HQ, ZA 4, Wash., DC, closes 6/25/26 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Commerce/HQ, ZA 4, Wash., DC, closes 6/25/26 (public).

Sup, Att’y-Adviser, Nat’l Labor Rel. Bd., GS 15, Wash, DC, closes 6/26/26 or first 50 applications (public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Wash., DC, closes 6/26/26 (non-public).

Gen. Att’y, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./ICE, GS 11-15, Wash., DC, closes 7/7/26 (public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Transp./FAA, FV J, Wash., DC, closes 7/7/26 (internal only).

Court opinion issued June 19, 2026

Heritage Found. v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- in a reverse-FOIA challenge to DOJ's planned release of transcripts and audio recordings from Special Counsel Robert Hur's investigation of former President Biden, holding that: (1) the Privacy Act permitted APA review of the disclosure decision; (2) DOJ reasonably reversed its prior Exemptions 6 and 7(C) withholdings after further redactions; and (3) preliminary injunction was unwarranted because the public interest in understanding the basis for Hur's prosecutorial decision outweighed the remaining privacy interests in the records.

Summaries of published opinions issued in 2026 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2025, 2024, and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinion issued June 17, 2026

Wild Horse Education v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior (D. Nev.) -- dismissing claim as moot where BLM produced all responsive, non-exempt records after suit was filed; rejecting plaintiff’s argument that alleged delays and untimely final determination preserved a live controversy.

Summaries of published opinions issued in 2026 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2025, 2024, and from 2015 to 2023.

Court opinion issued June 15, 2026

Am. First Legal Found. v. CDC (D.D.C.) -- in case concerning agency’s efforts to flag COVID-19 misinformation on social media platforms, granting summary judgment to government on its withholdings of meeting agendas and summaries under Exemption 5 and rejecting plaintiff's argument that a government-misconduct exception applied; further, granting summary judgment to agency on Exemption 4 withholding of Meta’s BrandLift ad-measurement records, including estimated pricing, test budget terms, and account numbers; and ordering disclosure of records from CrowdTangle, Meta's tool for tracking how content spreads across Facebook and Instagram, on highly questionable conclusion that Meta's proprietary sorting criteria and keyword taxonomies were not "commercial in and of itself,” but in any event finding that Meta failed to sufficiently restrict third-party access to establish confidentiality.

Summaries of published opinions issued in 2026 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2025, 2024, and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: Money, money, money

The Fund for Investigative Journalism will host a webinar on June 24th on how to negotiate FOIA fees. See details here.