FOIA March Madness 2017: Heading into the Semifinals
JPat Brown, MuckRock, Mar. 29, 2017
It’s week three of MuckRock’s bracket-style March Madness race to fill a FOIA the fastest, and while a few unlikely challengers are looking strong heading into the semis, an entire division is looking like their heart just isn’t into it.
Read more here.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel published a final rule implementing new FOIA regulations in today's issue of the Federal Register. The changes are in response to public comments received by the agency last year. Among the changes are a clarification to consultation procedures, inclusion of a records retention obligation, and an updated definition of the representative of the news media fee category. The new regulations are effective immediately.
Am. Civil Liberties Union v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (S.D.N.Y.) -- finding that: (1) FBI, National Security Division (NSD), and CIA failed to perform adequate searched for requested records concerning Executive Order 12,333; (2) all Exemption 5 withholdings by Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) were proper, and some but not all Exemption 5 withholdings by CIA, NSD, and Nat'l Security Agency were proper; (3) all but one document was properly withheld under Exemptions 1 and 3 by NSD, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, FBI, NSA; and (4) OLC, FBI, and NSD properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 7(D) and (7(E).
Debrew v. Atwood (D.D.C.) -- determining that Federal Bureau of Prisons performed an adequate search for records concerning the promulgation of a disciplinary regulation.
Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project v. DHS (S.D.N.Y.) -- ruling that agency properly relied upon Exemptions 5 and 7(E) to withhold portions of "trip reports" regarding refugee applicants.
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
OGIS Blog, Mar. 29, 2017
Did you know that dispute resolution skills can help you improve communication with not just FOIA requesters, but also with your agency colleagues, and even your friends and family? Register today for our April 18thDispute Resolution Skills for FOIA Professionals training session, where you can get hands-on experience with these valuable tools.
Read more here.
Environmental Protection Agency only may provide under a Freedom of Information Act request the city, county, zip code and Clean Water Act permit status of a concentrated animal feeding operation.
National Hog Farmer, Mar 28, 2017
A federal judge yesterday approved a settlement agreement between the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, limiting the EPA’s release of information on livestock farmers
Under the agreement, the agency only may provide under a Freedom of Information Act request the city, county, zip code and Clean Water Act permit status of a concentrated animal feeding operation. The agreement also requires the EPA to conduct training on FOIA, personal information and the federal Privacy Act.
Read more here.
By JPat Brown, Muckrock, Mar. 28, 2017
Two years ago, we wrote about the IRS giving us one of our most infamous FOIA responses - an encrypted CD full of entirely redacted documents. Now, just a couple days before Tax Day, the agency does it again, reaching new heights of frustration with our first password-protected Glomar rejection.
In response to a request for financial investigations into three Ukrainian nationals, the IRS responded with a .pdf. Trying to open the .pdf yielded this:
Read more (and see the document) here.
Lucaj v. FBI (6th Cir.) -- reversing district court decision and remanding for further proceedings after concluding that documents exchanged between DOJ Criminal Division and foreign governments could not be protected under Exemption 5 because they do not meet the "inter-agency" or "intra-agency" threshold.
Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. Customs and Border Protection (D.D.C.) -- granting government's renewed summary judgment motion after finding that agency properly withheld disputed records were pursuant to Exemption 7(E).
Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.
The U.S. Postal Service published a final rule in today's issue of the Federal Register. The rule makes a technical correction to the agency's recently revised FOIA regulations. Specifically, USPS corrected a citation. The change is effective immediately.
Q. I need to know how to file a FOIA request for a copy of a check PNC bank made to my sister after the death of my mother.
A. PNC is a private entity, not a government agency, and thus it is not subject to FOIA requests.
Q. Is a Michigan property owners association subject to a FOIA request?
A. No. See, e.g., Attorney General Opinion No. 6942, p. 40, July 3, 1997 (A private, voluntary, unincorporated association of lake property owners is not a public body subject to the FOIA).
By Ethan Barton, Daily Caller, Mar. 24. 2017
President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is fighting against Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits seeking politically-charged Obama-era documents like those linked to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s scandals.
Trump could demand federal agencies release records to the public, but that would harm the bureaucracy’s ability to retain secrets – something career government officials handling the lawsuits and FOIA requests don’t want, according to transparency experts from nonprofit watchdog groups.
Read more here.