FOIA News: Court rules Clinton can be deposed about her emails

Judge orders Hillary Clinton deposition in email flap

The former secretary of state's sworn written answers were "incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory," Lamberth says.

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Mar. 2, 2020

A federal judge has ordered former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to sit for a sworn deposition for the first time in connection with her use of a private email account during her State Department tenure.

U.S. District Court Royce Lamberth issued the order Monday in connection with a five-and-a-half-year-old Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the conservative group Judicial Watch filed seeking emails related to the deadly 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Local FOIA Fanatic Denied "FOIA" Vanity License Plate

DC Rejects a “FOIA” Vanity Plate

By Andrew Beaujon, Washingtonian, Mar. 2, 2020

The Freedom of Information Act is a big part of Allan Blutstein’s life. The Chinatown resident has been a FOIA attorney for a decade and a half, and he’s handled FOIA requests as both a responder, for the Justice and Treasury departments, and as a requester: He’s currently the senior vice-president of FOIA operations at the political research firm America Rising. He also helps run a blog called FOIA Advisor.

So it makes sense that Blutstein’s dream license plate reads “FOIA.” “I thought it would be fun,” he tells Washingtonian. But the DC DMV rejected Blutstein’s request, citing “reference of govt language” in a letter to him dated February 21. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: SCOTUS agrees to hear FOIA case

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on March 2, 2020, that it had agreed to hear U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, regarding whether FOIA’s deliberative process privilege shields from disclosure a draft document prepared as required by the Endangered Species Act. More details are available from SCOTUSBlog. See also related articles from Bloomberg and Courthouse News Service.

FOIA News: Reminder of FOIA Advisory Committee meeting

The FOIA Advisory Committee is meeting on Thursday, March 5, 2020. The deadline to register to attend the meeting is Monday, March 2, 2020. Additional details are available here.

FOIA News: D.C. Circuit to hear FOIA argument on Mar. 2.

On Monday, March 2, 2020, the D.C. Circuit will hear oral argument in Bloomgarden v. NARA, which concerns the agency’s use of Exemption 6 to withhold two documents related to the firing of an Assistant United States Attorney in 1995. The D.C. Circuit ruled in 2017 that the Department of Justice properly withheld a proposed termination letter concerning the same AUSA.

FOIA News: Tech workshop to be held on April 20

DOJ, FOIA Post, Feb. 28, 2020

RESCHEDULED BEST PRACTICES WORKSHOP ON TECHNOLOGY IN FOIA

The Office of Information Policy (OIP) continues its Best Practices Workshop Series with a workshop on FOIA and technology.  This session, previously scheduled for January and cancelled due to inclement weather, will now be held on April 20, 2020 from 2-4pm at the Department of Justice’s 2-CON Building (145 N Street, NE).  

Read more here.

FOIA News: Lawsuit prompts OMB to revisit FOIA fee guidance

The Office of Management and Budget has agreed to amend its 1987 FOIA fee guidance as the result of a lawsuit filed by the government watchdog Cause of Action Institute. According to a Twitter announcement on Friday by COA’s Executive Director James Valvo, OMB will propose changes to the following three provisions by no later than April 30, 2020: (1) the definition of a “representative of the news media”; (2) the definition of “educational institution”; and (3) the guidance’s lack of a clarifying reference to the public interest fee waiver.

A copy of OMB’s court filing is here.

FOIA News: EPA's FOIA regulations under scrutiny

Legal and Legislative Challenges to EPA’s FOIA Restrictions

By Libby Dimenstein, Harvard Law Sch., Feb. 26, 2020

In June 2019, EPA limited access to public records through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The new rule, which was published without public input, allows EPA political appointees to review documents produced in response to FOIA requests and withhold portions of documents they deem “unresponsive” (not relevant to the request). 

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A number of organizations are challenging EPA’s actions in court. Just days before the rule took effect, two coalitions of environmental groups sued the agency. Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA, No. 19-cv-02198 (D.D.C.); Ecological Rights Foundation v. EPA, No. 19-cv-4242 (N.D. Cal.). An ethics watchdog group also sued EPA with substantially the same claims.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Activists fight feds for Ukraine docs

In Advancing Ukraine FOIA Fights, Lawyers Echo Trump’s Impeachment Defense Arguments

Lawyers are now arguing that the impeachment-related information should be released ahead of the November presidential election.

By Jacqueline Thomsen, Nat’l L.J., Feb. 26, 2020

The impeachment of President Donald Trump is over, and congressional investigators are staying quiet about what the future of Ukraine-based probes might look like. But in Washington, D.C., federal court, the Freedom of Information Act lawsuits seeking to reveal further details about the hold on Ukrainian military aid are preparing to enter a new phase.

The more than a dozen FOIA lawsuits tied to the Ukrainian-focused impeachment proceedings resulted in swift rulings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia late last year, including rare preliminary injunctions compelling the government to quickly hand over the records.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Sunshine Week event on Intelligence Community records

On Thursday, March 12, 2020,  the National Archives and Records Administration will host a program on using the Freedom of Information Act to request records from Intelligence Community (IC) agencies.  More details are available here.