FOIA News: Sunshine Week awards for feds

OIP Now Accepting Nominations for the 2026 Sunshine Week FOIA Awards

By DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Jan. 23, 2026

The Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy (OIP) is pleased to announce that nominations are open for the 2026 Sunshine Week FOIA Awards, recognizing the contributions of FOIA professionals from around the government. 

Agency FOIA professionals are at the center of ensuring successful FOIA administration and we look forward to celebrating the work of these individuals from around the government.  For this year’s event, OIP is seeking nominations for three categories of awards:

• Exceptional Service by a FOIA Professional or Team of FOIA Professionals

• Exceptional Advancements in IT to Improve the Agency’s FOIA Administration

• Lifetime Service Award

Nominations can be submitted by agencies or by a member of the public.  All nominations are due to OIP by Friday, February 13, 2026.

Read more here.

FOIA News: FDA FOIA: Two Law Firm Playbooks

How Lawyers Use FOIA for Radically Different Agendas

FOIAengine: A Tale of Two Law Firms

By Randy E. Miller, Law St. Media, Jan. 22, 2026

When most people think about the Freedom of Information Act, they imagine journalists prying loose hidden facts or activists holding officials accountable. But FOIA is also a workhorse tool for lawyers. As two law firms’ 2025 FOIA filings with the Food and Drug Administration show, the same statute can serve very different legal purposes.

In 2025, Siri & Glimstad and Hyman, Phelps & McNamara were the leading law firm submitters of FOIA requests to the FDA, according to PoliScio Analytics’ competitive-intelligence database FOIAengine, which tracks FOIA requests in as close to real-time as their availability allows. The two firms accounted for 13 percent of the 1,098 requests to the FDA made by 368 law firms last year.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Stars and Stripes still there; DOD regulation no longer gallantly streaming

The Department of Defense is removing a 1994 regulation governing its Stars and Stripes newspaper operations after determining that the rule addresses only internal policies and procedures and is unnecessary for public regulation; those matters will instead continue to be governed by DoD Directive 5122.11, according to a Federal Register notice published on January 15, 2026 (and effective immediately). Although DoD proposed updating the rule in April 2024 and received 91 public comments—most, but not all, supportive of Stars and Stripes and largely focused on issues such as FOIA access, facility access, and the republication of materials—the Department decided that those concerns were more appropriately handled through internal directives rather than notice-and-comment rulemaking.

FOIA News: Hedge funds, FOIA, and the FDA

How Hedge Funds Use FOIA to Stay Ahead of the Market

FOIAengine: Warning Letters and Inspection Reports in the Spotlight

By John A. Jenkins, Law St. Media, Jan. 14, 2026

Freedom of Information Act requests filed with the Food and Drug Administration by hedge funds last month revealed big financial players closely eyeing warning letters, enforcement documents, and inspection reports for major drug manufacturers and biopharma companies.

At the forefront was a sweeping request from Greenwich, Conn.-based Deep Track Capital for all Form 483 inspection reports issued by the FDA over nearly three years to two companies – CG Oncology (NASDAQ: CGON), which develops immunotherapies for bladder cancer; and Biovire, a contract manufacturer specializing in the final step of packaging “novel drugs and medical devices” for patient use.

Deep Track, focused exclusively on the life sciences industry, has $5.2 billion in assets under management and invests in public and pre-IPO biotechnology companies.  Form 483 reports, which the hedge fund is seeking, describe plant-inspection observations made by the FDA. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: Litigation over EEO-1 reports continues

Ninth Circuit Decision on EEO-1 Reports Is In, But the Case Is Not Over

By Laura A. Mitchell, JacksonLewis, Jan. 13, 2026

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit case involving EEO-1 reports and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has taken another procedural turn. The court’s July 2025 decision in Center for Investigative Reporting v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor upheld the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s finding that workforce composition data in federal contractors’ EEO-1 reports was not protected commercial information under FOIA’s Exemption 4 and as a result, OFCCP improperly withheld release of the reports. After a lengthy delay, the federal government declined to file for reconsideration and the Ninth Circuit’s decision became final December 29, 2025.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Dick Huff, founding OIP director, leads National FOIA Hall of Fame class of 2026

Sixteen inducted into 2026 National FOIA Hall of Fame

Brechner News, Jan, 13, 2026

Sixteen champions of government transparency will be inducted this March into the National FOIA Hall of Fame for their outstanding contributions to advancing the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Honorees include Richard L. Huff, founding director of what is now called the Office of Information Policy, Michael Morisy, co-founder of MuckRock, Kirsten Mitchell and Alina Semo of the Office of Government Information Services, and David McCraw, general counsel for The New York Times.

“These champions of transparency have dedicated themselves to improving U.S. FOIA, which is more important than ever,” said David Cuillier, director of the University of Florida Brechner Freedom of Information Project. “They are an inspiration to us all in advocating for more accountable government.”

Read more here.

FOIA News: Register for second annual Sunshine Fest

In recognition of Sunshine Week, the University of Florida Brechner Freedom of Information Project, MuckRock, and the National Freedom of Information Coalition are organizing the second-annual in-person conference to find solutions to pressing problems in freedom of information across all disciplinary and geographic boundaries – local, state, federal and global!

When: March 15-March 17, 2026

Where: Washington, D.C.

See here for schedule, speakers, registration, and travel information.

FOIA News: Actor John Cusack on FOIA-based reporting

John Cusack Wants to Talk About Paywalls

The movie star says that by selling their public-records-based reporting, news outlets are compromising one of journalism’s essential civic roles.

By Carolina Abbott Galvão, Columbia J. Rev., Jan. 7, 2026

* * *
One of the things you’re particularly interested in at the moment is the Freedom of Information Act, and specifically, ensuring that FOIA-based reporting isn’t kept behind paywalls. Why do you think that’s important? 

There’s an irony in the fact that FOIA-based reporting often ends up behind a paywall, because the public owns government records. We fund their creation through taxes, and we fund the agencies that produce them. We fund the FOIA office that processes the disclosure request—the entire apparatus is built on the premise that this information belongs to us. So when the journalist files a FOIA request, the story is the product of public investment. At any stage, the documents are ours. The disclosure process is ours. The reporters’ access exists only because the law recognizes our right to know. If that story then goes behind a paywall, that right becomes a privilege. 

Now, this is not an argument against paying journalists, or that the realities of the journalism business aren’t fraught. I get that part of it. Newsrooms need to survive. But the news isn’t just a business. It’s enshrined in the First Amendment.

Read more here.