FOIA News: Plaintiff challenges State Dep't request to delay Clinton email

Reporter fights Hillary Clinton email delay

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Jan. 25, 2016

Lawyers for a journalist seeking release of Hillary Clinton's email trove are objecting to the State Department's request for a month-long delay to complete disclosure of the final set of the former secretary of state's messages, warning that allowing the process to drag out until the end of February could deprive voters in early caucus and primary states of information on the Democratic presidential candidate.

State asked for an extension last week, telling U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras that State officials overlooked more than 7,000 pages of emails that were in need of interagency consultation and that the weekend's winter storm was complicating efforts to process the records.

"Unless and until State explains how over 7,000 pages that were already reviewed and identified as needing review by at least one other agency were lost for up to six months, and then suddenly found again just weeks before the deadline to produce them, the Court should view skeptically State’s assertion that this constitutes a legitimate 'unexpected' event," lawyers Ryan James and Jeffrey Light wrote in a court filing Monday morning on behalf of Vice News reporter Jason Leopold.

Read more here.

FOIA News: State Dep't seeks 1-month extension for Clinton emails

State Department Asks For More Time To Release Last Batch Of Hillary Emails

By Chuck Ross, Daily Caller, Jan. 22, 2016

The State Department is citing a snowstorm expected to hit Washington D.C. this weekend and a need for additional “interagency review” in its request to a federal judge on Friday to grant it an additional month to complete its final release of all of Hillary Clinton’s work-related emails.

Federal judge Rudolph Contreras ruled last year in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Vice News’ Jason Leopold that the State Department had to release Clinton’s 55,000 pages of emails on a graduated schedule at the end of each month through Jan. 2016.

But as first reported by Leopold — and as confirmed by The Daily Caller — the State Department’s attorneys filed a motion in court on Friday asking for the deadline to be pushed to Feb. 29.

“In this filing, the Department asked the Court for a one month extension, to February 29th, to finish our production of former Secretary Clinton’s emails,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement to TheDC.

The final tranche of Clinton’s emails, Toner said, are “the most complex to process” since they “contain a large amount of material that required interagency review.”

And the processing of the records will by slowed by a brutal snowstorm expected to incapacitate much of Washington D.C. this weekend, the State Department claims in its court filing.

Because the Clinton email team must perform its work onsite…this storm will disrupt the Clinton email team’s current plans to work a significant number of hours throughout the upcoming weekend and could affect the number of documents that can be produced on January 29, 2016,” the filing reads.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Jan. 21, 2016

Morley v. Cent. Intelligence Agency (D.C. Cir.) -- vacating for a second time the district court's decision that appellant was not entitled to an attorney's fee award with respect to his request for records about CIA officer George E. Joannides.  In rejecting the district court's analysis, the D.C. Circuit clarified that "the public-benefit factor requires an ex ante assessment of the potential public value of the information requested, with little or no regard to whether any documents supplied prove to advance the public interest." 

Al Azzawi v. Dep't of the Army (E.D. Cal.) -- recommendation from magistrate judge to dismiss case because plaintiff failed to submit an administrative appeal to the agency.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Jan. 15, 2016

Nat'l Sec. Counselors v. Cent. Intelligence Agency & U.S. Dep't of Def. (D.C. Cir.) -- holding that appellant was eligible for attorney's fees because it was a bona fide corporation with a legally recognized, distinct identity from the natural person who acted as its lawyer; reversing decision of the district court, which had viewed appellant as essentially a "one-man operation."  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: Donald Trump Featured in New Batch of Bill Clinton Documents

Donald Trump Featured in New Batch of Bill Clinton Documents

By Alexander Mallin, ABC News, Jan. 20, 2016

It's no secret that Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton have talked privately in the past, but the public will now get a closer look at their correspondence with the pending release of documents from Clinton's presidency.

The Clinton Presidential Library will soon release 464 pages of material related to Trump and his organization following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, according to a news release from the National Archives.

Read more here.

Q&A: FOIA jury trial?

Q.   I would like to petition for a jury trial in my federal FOIA case.  How can I do that?

A.   Litigants in FOIA cases do not have the right to a jury trial.  See, e.g., Buckles v. Indian Health Serv./Belcourt Serv. Unit, 268. F. Supp. 2d 1101, 1102-1103 (D.N.D. 2003).   Nor am I aware of any FOIA case in which a court has granted a motion or demand for a jury trial.  

FOIA News: House investigating State Dep't FOIA program

Eyeing Clinton’s tenure, Chaffetz probes State’s FOIA program

By Elise Vieback, Wash. Post, Jan. 20, 2016

Does the State Department obstruct valid requests for public records?

That’s what House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is trying to find out with a new probe of the department’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program under Secretary John Kerry, former Secretary Hillary Clinton and three of their predecessors.

Citing an increase in FOIA-related litigation, Chaffetz asked the State Department to produce information about how the Office of the Secretary handles records requests. The office was criticized for a lack of compliance with FOIA rules in a Jan. 7 inspector general’s report.

“The Department’s repeated failure to comply with the FOIA statute … demonstrates either incompetence or purposeful obstruction of the requesters’ right to access agency records, or both,” Chaffetz wrote Tuesday in a letter to Kerry.

The investigation adds to the pressure facing Clinton from Republicans on Capitol Hill, where multiple investigations into her tenure at the State Department, including the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, are in progress.

In his Jan. 7 report, State Department Inspector General Steve Linick concluded that “procedural weaknesses coupled with a lack of oversight by leadership” led to “inaccurate and incomplete” FOIA responses at the Office of the Secretary.

Conflicts between the State Department and outside groups, including media outlets, over FOIA requests increased last year after revelations that Clinton conducted official business using a private email server during her tenure at State.

The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Q&A: stopped at Customs

Q.   My wife and I travel as missionaries to other countries and in Nov. 2014 we were coming back into the country from Africa and were held by the Customs at Atlanta.  I do not have anything wrong on my record and I do not want to be held up this year as we travel again.

A.  See the following information from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection about requesting records concerning yourself with respect to screenings at airports and other transportation hubs.

FOIA News: DOJ seeking federal nominees for FOIA awards

SAVE THE DATE AND NOMINATE CANDIDATES FOR DOJ'S 2016 SUNSHINE WEEK AWARDS

Office of Information Policy, Press Release, Jan. 14, 2016

The Department of Justice is proud to announce that we will once again commemorate the start of Sunshine Week with a kickoff event on Monday morning, March 14, 2016. To help us prepare for this event, OIP is seeking nominations for this year’s Sunshine Week FOIA Awards.

Embracing DOJ's declaration that "FOIA is everyone's responsibility," during Sunshine Week 2015 the Department recognized and celebrated the contributions of FOIA professionals with the first Sunshine Week FOIA Awards. At last year's event, the accomplishments of various FOIA professionals were highlighted through awards such as Excellence in Management and Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee. As we prepare for Sunshine Week 2016, and in recognition of the FOIA’s 50th Anniversary, OIP is seeking nominations for two categories of awards for our 2016 Sunshine Week event.

Details on how to submit your nominations for this year’s awards are listed below. Nominations are due to OIP by Friday, February 19th. Awardees will be recognized during the Department’s 2016 Sunshine Week Kickoff Event to be held on Monday, March 14th at 10:00 am. Full details for this event will be announced here on FOIA Post in the coming weeks.

The Department's 2009 FOIA Guidelines emphasize the key role of agency FOIA professionals as these individuals are “responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the Act.” The FOIA was signed into law by President Johnson in 1966 and over the last 50 years it has, as President Obama declared, remained “the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open Government.”

The 2016 Sunshine Week Awards are designed to recognize both the vital work of FOIA professionals as well as to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this important law. We look forward to receiving your nominations and seeing you at the event.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Jan.12, 2016

Jan. 12, 2016

Bethea v. U.S. Dep't of Agric. (D.S.C.) (magistrate) -- recommending summary judgment in government's favor after finding that USDA had conducted a reasonable search and released in full all records that it located in response to pro se prisoner's request. 

Pebble Ltd. v. U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency (D. Alaska) -- holding that the EPA properly invoked Exemption 5 to withhold draft assessments and internal emails relating to plaintiff's plans to extract minerals from the Pebble Mine deposit in Southwest Alaska.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.