FOIA News: Another squabble over Ukraine-related docs

The Center for Public Integrity obtained an expedited production of records pertaining to military aid for Ukraine, but it claims the government has over-redacted the documents. See story here.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee working on recommendations

FOIA Advisory Committee 2018-2020 term recommendations coming into focus

By James R. Jacobs, Free Gov’t Info., Dec. 9, 2019

The most recent quarterly meeting of NARA’s FOIA Advisory Committee (of which I’m a member) occurred last Friday (12/6/19). You can watch the entire meeting as it was live-streamed on NARA’s YouTube channel (below). 

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee meeting

The Committee met on December 6, 2019. Here is a video of the proceedings.

FOIA News: Judge orders release of ex-acting AG Whitaker’s financial documents

Judge orders release of ex-acting AG Whitaker’s financial documents

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Dec. 5, 2019

A federal judge has turned down the Justice Department’s bid to keep secret several financial disclosure forms acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker submitted before his filings were formally accepted by ethics officials.

Acting on a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by BuzzFeed, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden ruled Wednesday that the draft financial disclosures are not eligible for protection under an exemption protecting the confidentiality of policy-making debates.

"The Court is unpersuaded by DOJ’s 'deliberative process' arguments," wrote McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump. “Whitaker’s draft forms do not bear the mark of the deliberative process.”

Read more here.

Covered in our daily summary of court opinions here.

FOIA News: IRS issues interim FOIA guidance on 6103 records

On November 26, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service issued interim guidance on FOIA requests seeking access to tax returns or return information, a portion of which is published below:

Effective immediately, FOIA requests for access to IRS records protected under 26 U.S.C. §6103, that do not contain proper identification or authorization necessary to release tax records, will be denied citing FOIA exemption (b)(3)/26 U.S.C. §6103 and appeal rights will be granted. The closing disposition on these requests will no longer be “imperfect”.

The response letter must include approved pattern language that neither confirms, nor denies, the existence of any record under 26 U.S.C. §6103.

The full text of the memo is available here (free trial subscription available).

FOIA News: Searching FOIA libraries for gov't information

On November 29, 2019, ScienceDirect posted online an outline of a Government Information Quarterly article about FOIA reading rooms authored by Lisa DeLuca, an assistant professor at Seton Hall University. The article is available for purchase or free of charge through various U.S. universities.

FOIA News: Ukraine records targeted by FOIA suits

As White House Stonewalls on Ukraine Docs, Wave of FOIA Suits Seek to Pry Them Loose

Two federal judges have even pointed to a White House counsel letter refusing to cooperate in the impeachment proceedings as a reason for granting some of the records requests.

By Jacqueline Thomsen, Nat’l Law Journal, Nov. 27, 2019

Federal trial judges in Washington, D.C., are ordering government agencies to quickly hand over documents tied to the House’s impeachment inquiry, giving the public—and lawmakers—access to information they likely wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise.

Read more here (accessible with free digital membership).

FOIA News: CNN complains about slow production of Mueller docs

Feds Accused of Stonewalling Media Request for Mueller Records

By Megan Minor, Courthouse News Serv., Nov. 25, 2019

A lawyer representing CNN in a battle for access to sealed records from the Mueller investigation told a federal judge in Washington on Monday that the Justice Department is intentionally delaying production of the documents.

“News delayed is news denied,” attorney Charles Tobin with Ballard Spahr told Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.

Read more here.

FOIA News: FBI seeks FOIA lawyer

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a vacancy for an attorney to serve in its FOIA litigation unit. Additional details are available here.

FOIA News: Dems seek AG's records on Zelensky phone call

Harris, Blumenthal, Whitehouse Demand Documents on Trump’s Request for Barr News Conference

Sentinel News Serv., Nov. 22, 2019

U.S. Senators Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on Friday sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Attorney General William Barr seeking documents relevant to any attempt by President Trump to convince Barr to hold a news conference declaring Trump had broken no laws during his July 25, 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Read more here.