FOIA News: HHS to post more FOIA docs, asserts Sec’y

‘Total Transparency’: RFK Jr. Pledges To Restore HHS Public Records Requests Slowed By DOGE

By Emily Kopp, Daily Caller News Found., April 23, 2025

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged at a press conference Tuesday to restore the production of federal records.

Those records, requested by members of the public, were said to be slowed by Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts.

Kennedy also said he will create a new website for HHS documents.

Kennedy said he would seek to publish a greater number of documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — a 1967 law that allows members of the public to obtain government records with some limited exceptions such as information pertaining to national security and trade secrets. The new landing page could include records requested and released previously but unavailable on the HHS website.

HHS currently hosts an online reading room for some records, but it does not serve as a repository of every document released under a FOIA request.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Hall of Fame under new management

Brechner FOI Project to Lead National FOIA Hall of Fame

Univ. of Florida, Apr. 21, 2025

The National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame is back, under the leadership of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

The Hall of Fame was created in 1996 by the First Amendment Center, an operating program of Freedom Forum, with the assistance of the Society of Professional Journalists. The 1996 launch coincided with the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Every five years, through 2016, a class of new individuals was inducted into the hall in recognition of their impact and dedication to government transparency in the United States.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DOJ urged to defend GAO's immunity from FOIA

Top Democrats Urge DOJ To Defend GAO's Legislative Status

By Courtney Bublé, Law360, Apr. 17, 2025

Three top House Democrats are looking for assurances from the U.S. Department of Justice that it will "zealously defend" a government watchdog in upcoming litigation by a conservative legal organization that challenges its status in the government.

The America First Legal Foundation, which was founded by Stephen Miller, a current and former top Trump official, last month sued the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent agency that works for Congress. While the lawsuit is based on a Freedom of Information Act request, there is a larger goal regarding the president's ability to remove executive officials. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the District of Columbia ordered the GAO to respond to the complaint by May 16.

Despite the GAO being in the legislative branch, the DOJ represents it in litigation, so the lawmakers asked for written confirmation by April 23 that the DOJ is committed to "vigorously" representing it. 

Read more here (free access with business email registration).

See case material here.

FOIA News: White House extends hiring freeze

President Trump signed a memorandum on Thursday that extends the three-month federal hiring freeze, which began on Inauguration Day and was set to expire this Sunday, through July t5, 2025.

See a related article from FedSmith here.

FOIA News: Requesters taxed by IRS FOIA

Behind the Story: Investigating the Faults in the IRS’s FOIA System 

By David D. Stewart & Amanda Athanasiou, Tax Notes, Apr. 17, 2025

Tax Notes chief correspondent Amanda Athanasiou discusses her recent investigation into the IRS's handling of Freedom of Information Act requests and trends from two decades of agency data.

Listen to the talk here.

FOIA News: CREW allowed limited discovery in DOGE FOIA case

Judge Christopher Cooper has granted in part a motion for discovery in Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington v. U.S. DOGE Service, No. 25-0511 (D.D.C.), perhaps the most prominent case to challenge DOGE’s status of an “agency” under the FOIA. The limited discovery order is intended to allow CREW to gather information about “USD’S influence and operations for purposes of determining whether it is exercising the requisite authority” to qualify as a “agency.”

Although limited jurisdictional discovery is permitted in FOIA cases, it is quite rare. Discovery into DOGE’s organization and operations, however, has been granted in several other ongoing cases involving other laws, such as the Privacy Act. Here, Judge Cooper noted that, contrary to the government’s arguments, the DOGE-related Executive Orders, “far from resolving the question against CREW,” instead suggest “that USDS is exercising substantial independent authority,” and news reports further suggest how that authority is being exercised “across vast areas of the federal government.”

At the same time, the court noted that several topics—such as aspects of DOGE’s record-keeping policies—are not germane to the legal issues at hand in the FOIA litigation. The court will disallow an interrogatory seeking a list of the DOGE Administrators from the start of the current Administration, and will not require disclosure of DOGE visitor logs, but it will require the entity to identify all classified or sensitive information systems its has sought to access. Of note, the court expressed how it was “somewhat baffled” by DOGE’s claim that it does “not own[]” the “@DOGE X account.”

FOIA Advisor will continue to report on this case as it develops.

FOIA News: Pay freeze likely for FY 2026

Agency FOIA personnel and their fellow feds are unlikely to receive an across-the-board pay increase in FY 2026, according to reporting by the Government Executive. Federal workers last faced pay freezes in fiscal years 2011 through 2013. See pay raise rates since FY 2008 here

FOIA News: DOGE ordered to process CREW's FOIA request at accelerated rate

Yesterday, Judge Christopher Cooper entered a minute order instructing the U.S. DOGE Service to start processing records responsive to a FOIA request filed by Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington. That request is the subject of ongoing, high-profile litigation in Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington v. U.S. DOGE Service, No. 25-0511 (D.D.C.). The complete order can be found on the docket, available here.

Judge Cooper has ordered DOGE (and OMB) to process CREW’s requests “at a rate of 1000 pages per month,” which is above the now-standard 500 pages. Despite ongoing briefing concerning DOGE’s status as an “agency” under the FOIA, the district court reasoned that processing could proceed given its previous ruling that DOGE “is likely subject to FOIA,” and any other result would result in further “processing delays” down the road. Importantly, Judge Cooper noted the government need not “produce any documents,” but only process them. The Court justified accelerated processing based on its finding that the records at issue are “important” and “of the highest national concern,” especially for “ongoing public and congressional debates.” CREW also successfully argued for expedited processing in its initial motion for preliminary relief.

Interestingly, in response to the government’s arguments about the lack of any FOIA apparatus at DOGE, the court explained there is “no reason why the existing FOIA office at OMB, or those [offices] elsewhere within the Executive Office of the President, could not assist with processing[.]”

Finally, the court indicated it “might entertain a request for a higher processing rate should it be satisfied that CREW” has worked to narrow its request further, and if “production”—or, perhaps, as the Court likely intended to say, processing updates from the government—are “yielding meaningful results.”

FOIA Advisor has previously reported on updates in this case, and it will continue to do so.

FOIA News: D.C. Circuit to hear argument on OLC legal opinions

On April 11, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear a FOIA argument in Campaign for Accountability v. DOJ, No. 24-5163 (D.C. Cir.).

The issue on appeal is whether DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel has an obligation under FOIA’s “reading room” provision, 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2), to affirmatively disclose certain legal opinions. The underlying decision authored by now-Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson held that none of the categories of OLC opinions identified by plaintiff plausibly qualified for affirmative disclosure, except for opinions that resolve disputes between federal agencies.

A livestream of three cases on the court’s calendar will begin at 9:30am EDT. The panel will include Judges Srinivasan, Rao, and Pan.

FOIA News: In the land of the blind . . .

In case you missed it, here is a link to yesterday’s FOIA hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, including the written statements of the three witnesses.