FOIA News: Nominations open for "Golden Padlock Award"

The nonprofit organization Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) is accepting nominations for the “Golden Padlock Award,” which recognizes the “most secretive publicly-funded agency or person in the United States.” Fill out your form here. Last year’s winner was the city of Detroit and its mayor, Mike Duggan.

FOIA News: Advocacy groups petition Garland for FOIA guidance

Politico, Transition Playbook, Apr. 5, 2021

For FOIA’s Sake

Dozens of groups advocating for government transparency will push Attorney General Merrick Garland to begin the process of fixing a broken public records system at DOJ, Anita Kumar writes.

The coalition, convened by the group Open the Government, will ask Garland in a letter to be sent this week to issue a directive to agencies about the Freedom of Information Act, review pending FOIA lawsuits within two months and support legislative reforms to the law. (The groups will also write to Sens. DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) and CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa), leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, this week to push for FOIA oversight.)

Read more here.

FOIA News: SCOTUS declines to hear Clinton email case

Supreme Court Rejects Judicial Watch’s Final Attempt to Depose Hillary Clinton About Her Emails

By Jerry Lambe, Law & Crime, Mar. 29th, 2021

The Supreme Court of the United States on Monday declined a conservative legal group’s request to revisit whether Hillary Clinton should be required to answer questions about her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

In an unsigned order issued without comment, the justices declined to take up Judicial Watch’s petition stemming from the organization’s lawsuit over the government’s response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The group had sought to depose Clinton and one of her top aides, Cheryl Mills, over electronic communications in connection with the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Discussion on establishing independent administrative FOIA oversight body

On April 14, 2021, Yale Law School will broadcast a pre-recorded discussion entitled “Fixing FOIA: Comparative Solutions to America's Transparency Deficit.” Details and registration information available here.

FOIA News: A FOIA pitch to the Attorney General

How Attorney General Garland Can Strengthen FOIA Implementation

By Daniel McGrath, Just Security, Mar. 25, 2021

In his confirmation hearing testimony, Attorney General Merrick Garland drew clear parallels between his task of restoring the integrity of the Justice Department today, in the wake of the Trump administration’s rampant politicization, and his early service when the department implemented policies to reaffirm its post-Watergate commitment to the rule of law. Garland noted that reading the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) “generously” was one of those vital policies.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Update on Paycheck Protection Program case

NFIB files brief regarding Paycheck Protection Program borrower information

By Douglas Clark, Fin. Reg. News, Mar. 24, 2021

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has filed an amicus brief supporting the Small Business Administration (SBA) withholding records regarding the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Officials said the action stems from the case Washington Post v. U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., concerning records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) about loan status and personal information of borrowers.

Read more here.

Copy of amicus brief here.

FOIA News: Yale University to host FOIA boot camp

MFIA Clinic to Host its Annual FOIA Bootcamp April 7, 2021

As government becomes more opaque, and the state of our nation evolves through the pandemic, it is ever more important to know how to use effectively the legal tools that exist to make federal, state, and local governments more open and accountable. To that end, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA) and the Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School are hosting their annual “FOIA Bootcamp” on April 7, 2021.  Attendees at this special event can learn how to make the most out of government transparency laws from experts in the field.

Read more here.

FOIA News: D.C. Circuit hears argument about withheld NSA memo

On March 18, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral argument in The Protect Democracy Project v. U.S. National Security Agency, a case in which appellant seeks access to communications between NSA and the Executive Office of the President regarding Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. The lower court held that NSA properly withheld a disputed memorandum pursuant to Exemption 5’s presidential communications privilege.

FOIA News: ICYMI, OIP updates Ex. 1 of FOIA Guide

On March 4, 2021, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy posted an updated version of section Exemption 1 of the Guide to the Freedom of Information Act. All of the remaining Guide sections have been updated as of 2019 or 2020.

FOIA News: Two Exemption 5 decisions analyzed

Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Limit Reach of Freedom of Information Act

By Marc Bruner, Perkins Coie, JD Supra, Mar. 19, 2021

The Freedom of Information Act requires that federal agencies make records available to the public upon request, unless the records fall within one of nine exemptions. “Exemption 5” covers inter-agency or intra-agency communications that would be privileged in civil litigation, including under the attorney-client, work product or deliberative process privilege. 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5). In two recent rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit shored up the grounds for invoking Exemption 5 and for withholding documents from public disclosure under the FOIA statute.

Read more here.