FOIA News: Lawsuit seeks records about sale of NARA’s Seattle office

Washington AG sues for public records on National Archives closure

Daily World, Aug. 18, 2020

After six months with no reply from three federal agencies for public records on the closure of the National Archives at Seattle, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Monday sued them in federal court.

A fourth agency, the little-known, five-person Public Buildings Reform Board that made the recommendation for closure, on July 20 had demanded $65,400 “to redact the material for production to your office.”

Says Ferguson, “This is not a national security issue. What do they have to redact? It’s a property sale. It’s outrageous that after six months, they want the taxpayers of Washington to pay $65,000 so they can make redactions.”

Read more here.

FOIA News: ICE tries to put request on ice

DC Judge Calls ICE's 66-Year FOIA Doc Plan 'Unsatisfying'

Law360, Aug. 14, 2020

U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it will take 66 years to sift out the sensitive information from a round of immigration database documents that it has been ordered to turn over as part of a long-running records fight — unwelcome news to the D. C. federal judge overseeing the case. U. S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta said at a virtual status conference on Friday that he was very frustrated to hear the government's time estimate, particularly because  the parties are six years into the dispute over technical documents tied to two ICE database.

Read full article here (accessible with free subscription).

FOIA News: D.C. Circuit rejects bid to depose Hillary Clinton

Appeals court blocks Hillary Clinton deposition on private email server

By Harper Neidig, The Hill, Aug. 14, 2020

A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a judge's order that Hillary Clinton be deposed as part of a conservative group's lawsuit for records related to the private email server she used while serving as secretary of State.

A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the conservative group Judicial Watch did not merit the level of legal inquiry that would require Clinton to sit for a deposition.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Harvard prof weighs in on SCOTUS Exemption 5 case

The very test under the Endangered Species Act is supposed to be ‘What is the best available science?'”

In a Q&A, Animal Law & Policy Clinic director describes what is at stake in SCOTUS Freedom of Information Act case brought by the Sierra Club

By Sarah Pickering, Harvard Law Today, Aug. 12, 2020

Should the public get a window into the factors federal agencies considered—or ignored—when devising important environmental, health and safety regulations, or would exposing those internal discussions to public scrutiny chill deliberations? That is the question underlying an amicus brief that the Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic recently filed in the United States Supreme Court in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case brought by the Sierra Club and involving the public’s right of access to scientific analyses concerning the adverse impacts of federal actions on endangered and threatened species.

Read more here.

FOIA News: New members appointed to FOIA Advisory Committee

Archivist Appoints New Members to the 2020-2022 FOIA Advisory Committee

Office of Gov’t Info. Serv., Aug. 12, 2020

We are pleased to announce that Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero has appointed 20 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) experts — 10 government FOIA professionals and 10 requester community representatives — to serve on the fourth term of the FOIA Advisory Committee. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: D.C. Cir. will not require CIA to create records about FOIA requesters

CIA Needn’t Answer FOIA Requests About Who Sent FOIA Requests

By Porter Wells, Bloomberg Law, Aug. 11, 2020

• National security nonprofit lodged 45 records requests

• Agency needn’t create documents, other exemptions apply

The CIA doesn’t have to hand over information about which organizations have filed public records requests with the agency, after the D.C. Circuit Tuesday rejected an appeal by nonprofit organization National Security Counselors.

The group’s Freedom of Information Act request to the CIA asked for lists of all the agency’s FOIA requesters from 2008 to 2010 who identified themselves as “news media,” “educational or scientific,” “commercial,” or “all other.”

Read more here (accessible with subscription).

Copy of opinion here.

FOIA News: Interior IG report addresses FOIA "awareness review"

Watchdog report raises new questions for top Interior lawyer

By Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, Aug. 10, 2020

A new report from the Interior Department’s watchdog reignites questions over the involvement of the agency's top lawyer in withholding public documents.

The report could give ammunition to Democrats who have accused Interior Solicitor Daniel Jorjani of perjuring himself before lawmakers.

The report from Interior’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) centers around the “awareness review” process at Interior that allowed political appointees to review Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests — something critics say gave Trump appointees undue influence over what records were released.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DOD may withhold bombing images, 2nd Cir. rules

Images of Terrorist Bombs Stay Out of Reach in Suit Against Iran

Bloomberg Law, Aug. 10, 2020

• Previous disclosure of similar images irrelevant

• Specific requests exempt from FOIA disclosure

The Department of Defense properly withheld images of the damage caused by terrorist attacks on armored vehicles from the law firm suing Iran on behalf of military personnel injured in the attacks, the Second Circuit said Monday.

Osen LLC filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the images, saying they could be disclosed because the army previously released similar images from other attacks. Citing FOIA Exemption 1, which applies to information about national security that’s classified as secret, the army refused the request.

Full article here (accessible with subscription).

Copy of opinion here.

FOIA News: DHS's FOIA processes under scrutiny

Delays Underlie Most FOIA Suits against DHS, Report Says

FEDweek, Aug. 6, 2020

Nearly four-fifths of suits brought against DHS under the Freedom of Information Act cite missed deadlines for responses, an IG report has said, far more than other grounds such as the adequacy of the searches performed or the department’s decision to invoke an exception under the FOIA.

The report noted that law requires agencies to respond within 20 business days to routine requests and gives an additional 10 for more complex requests. When an agency does not respond to a request within the pertinent timeframe a requester may file suit.

Read more here.

Read OIG’s report here.

FOIA News: Amicus brief filed in SCOTUS Exemption 5 case

On August 3, 2020, a coalition of journalism groups, led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, filed an amicus brief supporting the appellee in the Supreme Court case U.S. Fish & Wildlife v. Sierra Club. The central dispute in this case concerns records withheld under Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege.