FOIA News: FOIA regulations issued by DHS and FDIC

Today,  two agencies, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, issued regulations implementing various amendments to the FOIA and developments in case law. 

The FDIC's interim regulations incorporate amendments to the FOIA from 2016.  Public comments are due January 23, 2017.  

DHS's final regulations, which encompass the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, incorporate developments in case law and statutory amendments from 2007 and 2016.  DHS published a proposed rule in July 2015 that reflected the 2007 amendments, but it did not seek public comments with respect to regulatory changes implementing the 2016 amendments.  DHS's final regulations are effective December 22, 2016.  

FOIA News: Clinton fights demand for more information on emails

Clinton fights demand for more information on emails

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Nov. 21, 2016

Lawyers for Hillary Clinton are opposing a conservative group's demand that she provide more details about the creation of the private server that hosted her email account while she was secretary of state.

Last month, Clinton answered written questions that a federal judge authorized Judicial Watch to ask in connection with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit related to her email set-up. She said she had no recollection that anyone ever suggested to her that the arrangement be at odds with FOIA or federal recordkeeping laws.

On Nov. 3, five days before the presidential election, Judicial Watch complained to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan that Clinton did not provide full answers to all the questions the group asked.

Clinton's attorneys responded in a court filing Monday that two of the three questions went beyond the scope of what Sullivan authorized Judicial Watch to inquire about.

Read more here.

Q&A: All the live-long day?

Q.  How can I find out how much money Amtrak spends on brush cutting on their railroad tracks every year? And how can I find out how to bid on their brush cutting work?

A.  For information about doing business with Amtrak, see the agency's procurement portal.  The information you seek might be available on Amtrak's website.  If not, you can submit a FOIA request to Amtrak  by following these instructions.

Q&A: Please don't take my sunshine away

Q.  Are the cell phones of government employees [in Illinois] subject to FOIA requests and can they be confiscated by agency attorneys if they suspect you are taking pictures or sending a text about work-related matters?

A.  On August 9, 2016, the Illinois Attorney General issued a legal opinion indicating that all emails sent or received by agency employees that relate to government business are subject to FOIA, regardless of whether sent through a government or personal account. This would appear to be equally applicable to text messages and other work-related records maintained on personal accounts or devices.  

For further information about the AG's opinion, see this article written by the law firm Holland & Knight.  If you are an agency employee, you should confer with your agency about the how it intends to implement the AG's opinion.  

FOIA News: Rallying cry for media under Trump: Make FOIA Great Again

Rallying cry for media under Trump: Make FOIA Great Again

By Philip Eli, Columbia Journalism Review, Nov. 18, 2016

DONALD TRUMP HAS NEVER held elected office. So it’s possible he thinks he can run the the Executive Branch like one of his private companies. But the president-elect does not own the Department of Transportation, the US Navy, or any of the other agencies under his command. We do. And we, the people, under the Freedom of Information Act, have a right to access the material they produce, unless it falls under one of nine exemptions.

The FOIA, notably, places no limit on the number of requests an agency can receive or a person can submit. And it is with this fact in mind—and Trump’s well-document fondness for superlatives—that I suggest we make Donald Trump the most FOIA-requested president in US history. This wouldn’t just give him another sentence for his astonishingly long-winded online biography, it just may offer a path to redemption for our beleaguered news industry.

Read more here.

FOIA News: How Will Trump Deal with FOIA?

How Will Trump Deal with FOIA?

By Jason Koebler, Motherboard, Nov. 17, 2016

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on the idea that the media is incompetent, biased, and vindictive. He was also the first candidate in modern US history to refuse to release his tax returns.

Taken together, the inbound Trump administration doesn’t look like it’s going to be particularly forthcoming or transparent with reporters. But how will his administration deal with the Freedom of Information Act, one of the most powerful tools reporters, activists, and researchers have to gain insight into the inner workings of government?

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Nov. 15, 2016

Pickard v. Dep't of Justice (N.D. Cal.) -- concluding that the DEA properly relied on Exemption 7(D) to withhold a confidential informant's name and any information he publicly released, and that the agency properly withheld the informant's NADDIS number pursuant to Exemption 7(E).

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: VA Execs Block FOIA Requests By Charging Thousands For ‘Easy To Find’ Documents

VA Execs Block FOIA Requests By Charging Thousands For ‘Easy To Find’ Documents

By Luke Rosiak, Daily Caller, Nov. 16, 2016

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials blocked the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by charging made-up, exorbitant fees such as $30,000 for documents staffers admitted were “easy to find,” according to internal emails obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group.

A VA hospital used the technique to get watchdogs and activists to drop their requests after a lone FOIA officer there helped expose corruption by the facility’s director. The director paid the FOIA officer to stay home without access to sensitive information, leaving the facility without anyone to process the requests.

The efforts at VA to block FOIA requests are reminiscent of those at the Department of State that torpedoed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. As secretary of state, Clinton’s desire to keep her emails from being discovered by reporters prompted the use of a private server located in her New York mansion.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Nov. 14, 2016

Nat'l Sec. Counselors v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- see DOJ summary here.

FOIA News: More FOIA guidance on Trump records

A guide to public records and the Trump Presidential Transition

No, you still can’t FOIA Donald Trump’s tax returns, and other things to consider in the coming months

By Michael Morisy, MuckRock, Nov. 15, 2016

Previously, we took a look at what you could FOIA about Donald Trump and what you couldn’t. While at the time he had a relatively light public records trail, savvy requesters could still find ways to get a lot of material.

In fact, after that story ran, the New York Times had a great piece that used public records to raise serious questions about Donald Trump’s claimed income.

Now that Donald Trump is President Elect of the United States, a whole new world of FOIA possibilities begins to open up. But first, some bad news.

Read more here.