FOIA News: FBI Refuses to Disclose Clinton Files, Citing Lack of "Public Interest"

FBI refuses to release Hillary Clinton files, says lawyer did not demonstrate the 'public's interest in the disclosure'

Many Mayfield, Wash. Exam'r, Aug. 29, 2017

The FBI turned down a lawyer's request for the release of FBI files on Hillary Clinton, faulting the lawyers' documents for not providing enough proof "that the public interest sought is a significant one," according to multiple reports Tuesday.

The FBI killed the request made by attorney Ty Clevenger, who filed a Freedom of Information Act request earlier this year to obtain information relating to the investigation into Clinton's emails.

"You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public's interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject," Hardy said to Clevenger in a letter on Monday. "It is incumbent upon the requester to provide documentation regarding the public's interest in the operations and activities of the government before records can be processed pursuant to the FOIA."

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Aug. 28, 2017

Yagman v. Pompeo (9th Cir.) -- reversing district court's dismissal after concluding that plaintiff had requested records and not merely asked a question about CIA personnel or affiliates that engaged in torture.  Although the Circuit agreed with the agency that request was too vague, it remanded the case to the district court with instructions to allow plaintiff to reframe his request. 

Energy & Env't Legal Inst. v. U.S. Dep't of State (E.D. Va.) -- ruling that plaintiffs were precluded from filing separate summary judgment motions and that agency properly withheld disputed emails pertaining to environment pursuant to Exemptions 1, 5, and 6.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

FOIA News: Ninth Circuit on FOIA Request Rejected Over Form

9th Cir. Says CIA FOIA Request Wrongly Rejected Over Form

Daniel Wilson, Law360, Aug. 28, 2017

The Ninth Circuit on Monday revived a Freedom of Information Act suit seeking access to Central Intelligence Agency records regarding employees that engaged in torture, saying a district court had wrongly decided the case based on the form of the request, rather than on its merits.

Stephen Yagman’s FOIA request lacked the required specificity, which should have been the merits issue on which his suit was dismissed, a three-judge panel ruled in a published decision.

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA Group That Got Al-Awlaki Memos Wins Fees In 9th Circ.

FOIA Group That Got Al-Awlaki Memos Wins Fees In 9th Circ.

By Jack Newsham, Law360, Aug. 28, 2017

An open-government group that sued under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain legal memos about the U.S.’ targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki won legal fees Friday, when Ninth Circuit judges concluded for different reasons that the lower court applied the wrong standard to deny fees.

Read more here (subscription). 

 

Court opinions issued Aug. 25, 2017

First Amendment Coalition v. DOJ (9th Cir.) -- reversing district court's decision that plaintiff was ineligible for attorney fees in case pertaining to Anwar al-Awlaki, and remanding for determination as to whether plaintiff is entitled to fees. Notably, one panelist opined that fee eligibility ought not depend upon whether plaintiff's litigation was  "substantial causative effect" of disclosure of requested information.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinions issued Aug. 22 & Aug. 23, 2017

Aug. 23, 2017

Hetznecker v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (E.D. Pa.) -- ruling that: (1) FBI conducted adequate search for records concerning Occupy Philly movement and properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D) and 7(E); and (2) NSA and CIA properly refused to confirm or deny existence of records pursuant to Exemption 1.  

Aug. 22, 2017

Davis v. U.S. Dep't of Veterans Affairs (D. Colo.) -- finding that agency performed a reasonable search for plaintiff claim file  (from which it produced more than 7500 pages without redactions), and that plaintiff was not entitled to discovery.

Dixon v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- concluding that FBI conducted reasonable search for various records concerning comparative bullet lead analysis and that it properly withheld third party information pursuant to Exemption 7(C).

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

FOIA News: FOIA Reveals Contents of the Guantanamo Bay Library

WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DAN BROWN AT GUANTANAMO BAY?

A recent FOIA request unveiled the contents of the Guantanamo Bay library. We talked to a prison librarian about what makes the collection notable.

By Katie Kilkenny, Pacific Standard, Aug. 22, 2017

What do prisoners get to read, watch, and play at Guantanamo Bay? For years, journalists who have visited the complex's detainee library have sketched a vague and intriguing picture: The library, situated behind barbed wire in Camp Delta, contains religious, social science, and philosophy books, among those representing other disciplines, as well as DVDs and video games. Inmates are not allowed to visit, though those who have been on good behavior can have items delivered to them. Many of the books are written or translated into Arabic, though the collection has a sizable English-language section as well, and the collection has grown substantially over the past few years: In 2008, it had 5,000 volumes, and, today, it now has 35,000 volumes—that's a 700 percent increase in the last nine years, during which time the inmate population fell 83 percent, from 242 inmates to 41.

Last week, a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request threw further light on the facility's collection. On Monday, FOIA logging site Government Attic posted all 634 pages of Guantanamo's inmate library catalog, which the United States Southern Command's Joint Task Force-Guantanamo compiled to respond to a July 25th, 2015, request. Some early findings about the collection: Harry Potter is a clear favorite for the collections manager, as the library has versions translated into Farsi, French, German, Russian, and Spanish; inmates have no shortage of titles by conspiracy auteur Dan Brown or mystery maven Agatha Christie; and the collection has lots of DVDs about monuments.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Secret Service agrees to stop erasing White House visitor log data

Secret Service agrees to stop erasing White House visitor log data

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Aug. 23, 2017

The Secret Service has agreed to stop erasing White House visitor log data while a lawsuit demanding public access to some of the information goes forward.

Justice Department lawyers said in a court filing Tuesday night that, pending resolution of the case, the Secret Service will suspend its practice of disposing of the information after it is transferred to a White House records repository.

“Although not necessary to preserve the requested records, the Secret Service has stated that it will retain copies of all [appointment and visitor entry] data during the pendency of this litigation, and Secret Service has suspended auto-delete functions,” Justice Department lawyer Julie Straus Harris wrote in response to a lawsuit brought by the watchdog group Public Citizen.

Who holds the information can have a pivotal impact on the public’s ability to access the data in a timely way. Records held by federal agencies like the Secret Service are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, which can result in relatively timely disclosures, at least in some cases.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Requesters eclipsed by NASA's intransigence, says Motherboard

Getting NASA to Comply With Simple FOIA Requests Is a Nightmare

NASA often refuses to complete Freedom of Information Act requests using the excuse that it is "unclear what specific NASA records you are requesting."

By Joseph Cox & Jason Koebler, Motherboard, Aug. 22, 2017

Trying to effectively use the Freedom of Information Act can be hell. Maybe a police department will demand a ridiculous and seemingly arbitrary fee to collect records, or perhaps an agency simply won't respond to requests.

Judging by Motherboard's own requests as well as those from Freedom of Information organizations, one government body in particular stands out for turning FOIA requests into a nightmare: NASA.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Aug. 21, 2017

Villar v. FBI (D.N.H.) -- concluding that pro se plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies with respect to his request concerning third party, and that FBI failed to submit adequate information to permit review of records withheld concerning plaintiff.  

Demoruelle v. Dep't of Veterans' Affairs (D. Haw.) -- granting pro se plaintiff's claim for waiver of fees, which agency did not dispute in litigation, and granting litigation costs but not attorney's fees.  

Francis v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- finding that Executive Office for United States Attorneys performed a reasonable search for certain records concerning his prosecution for conspiring to kill a federal official.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.