FOIA News: ICYMI, FOIA suits attempt to uncover bullying of civil servants

Watchdog group, citing “integrity of civil service,” sues Trump to find out if feds are being bullied

By Lisa Rein, Wash. Post,  Apr. 27, 2017

A watchdog group led by former Obama administration lawyers filed lawsuits Thursday against three federal agencies to force them to release communications the group suspects show the Trump administration is bullying civil servants.

The complaints, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, contend that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Energy Department are violating the law by refusing to respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act for communications about career employees between top White House political aides and their counterparts at the agencies. The group also is appealing a State Department decision on a similar request for information.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Apr. 26, 2017

Simon v. DOJ  (D.D.C.) -- (1) denying plaintiff's motion to compel the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys to individually process 61 separate requests about plaintiff and his wife's prosecution for tax evasion; (2) denying as unripe plaintiff's argument that EOUSA's ongoing search will ultimately prove inadequate.

Reynolds v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- dismissing case after finding that EOUSA never received pro se inmates FOIA requests. 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: House Votes To Subject Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac To FOIA

House Votes To Subject Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac To FOIA

By Michael Macagnone, Law360, April 27, 2017

The House on Thursday passed a bill to subject Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the Freedom of Information Act while they remain in government conservatorship, with some tweaks.

The Fannie and Freddie Open Records Act of 2017, from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, applies most of FOIA’s requirements to the two companies, which have been in government conservatorship since the 2008 economic crisis.

Read more here (subscription). 

FOIA News: House committee considers bill to open records at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

House committee considers bill to open records at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

By Kelsey Ramirez, HousingWire, April 24, 2017

Under current law, the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because, while they are under federal conservatorship, they are not federal agencies.

H.R. 1694, introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz R-UT, seeks to change that.

Under the bill, the GSEs would be directed to accept and process FOIA requests from the public and release information to satisfy those request for as long as they remain under federal conservatorship.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Apr. 21, 2017

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Wash. v. DOJ (D.C. Cir.) -- reversing district court's decision in case involving FBI investigation of former congressman Tom Delay after concluding that government invoked Exemption 5 too late and that it needed to perform "a more particularized balancing of the interests at stake" under Exemptions 6 and 7(C).

Franklin v. DEA (9th Cir.) (unpublished) -- summarily affirming district court's decision that agency conducted adequate search and properly redacted records.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: U.S. Trade Rep updates FOIA regs

Today the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issued a final rule that makes "minor technical changes" to its FOIA regulations.  USTR initially proposed these FOIA revisions in December 2016.

FOIA News: SCOTUS rejects appeal seeking Senate's CIA report

Justices Decline to Hear Appeal in CIA Torture Report

By Dan McCue, Courthouse News Service,  Apr. 24, 2017

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal seeking the release of a 2014 Senate report on the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation techniques.

In rejecting the appeal, the Justices let stand a May 2016 ruling by the D.C. Circuit which held the Senate Intelligence Committee was not subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Apr. 20, 2017

Prince v. NLRB (S.D. Ohio) -- holding that agency was not required to create records in order to answer plaintiff's legal questions.

Coffey v. Bureau of Land Mgmt. (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) agency was not required to pay interest on processing fees that were refunded to plaintiff; and (2) agency failed to adequately search for records of communications between two named employees and contractors concerning agency's "Wild Horse and Burro Program."

Shapiro v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- finding that FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(E) to withhold reports generated by "Accurint" database even though agency's use of database was public knowledge.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Apr. 19, 2017

Stevens v. DHS (N.D. Ill.) -- ruling in "reverse FOIA" case that U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement's decision to disclose portions of plaintiff's bid and contract was not arbitrary and capricious. In reaching it decision, the court rejected plaintiff's arguments that the contract was not responsive to the request or that ICE was required to show how disclosure would not cause competitive harm to plaintiff.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: DOJ continues to protect mug shots

Feds: Mug shots too revealing to be made public

By Joe Guillen, Detroit Free Press, Apr. 22, 2017

The U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump is staking the same ground as the previous administration in opposing the Detroit Free Press' legal fight over the public release of criminal mug shots in federal cases.

In a bid to convince the U.S. Supreme Court from taking up a case the Free Press originally filed in 2013, the Department of Justice argued in a brief filed April 12 that those accused of crimes have a privacy interest in keeping mug shots out of the public eye — especially in today's Internet age in which mugshots can live online in perpetuity.

Read more here.