Montgomery v. IRS (D.D.C.) -- ruling that plaintiffs failed to present new evidence or show that court erred in deciding that agency had properly issued Exemption 7(D) Glomar in response to request for whistleblower records.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Jonathan Ellis, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Jan. 11, 2019
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that will decide whether the public has a right to know how much taxpayer money grocers, gas stations, big box retailers and others get by participating in the federal food stamp program.
Read more here.
See SCOTUS Blog case summary here.
The Supreme Court of the United States today granted the petition for a writ of certiorari in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media. The Argus Leader case concerns the construction and application of Exemption 4, which covers trade secrets and privilege or confidential commercial or financial information. FOIA Advisor identified the contested Eight Circuit opinion as one of its “Top federal FOIA decisions of 2018.”
The last FOIA decision issued by the Supreme Court was in Milner v. Department of the Navy, 131 S. Ct. 1259 (2011), which involved the use of Exemption 2. A few years ago, however, Justice Thomas published an interesting dissent from the denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari in New Hampshire Right to Life v. Department of Health and Human Services, 136 S. Ct. 383 (2015), in which he signaled a desire to address the “amorphous” Exemption 4 tests that had developed amongst the circuit courts and return instead to the “ordinary meaning” of the word “confidential.”
Democracy Forward Found. v. White House Office of Am. Innovation (D.D.C.) -- ruling that White House Office of American Innovation is not an “agency” subject to FOIA requests because it is “an entity within the White House Office which does not exercise substantial authority independent of the President.”
Grynberg v. DOJ (2nd Cir.) -- summarily affirming district court’s decision that agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with Rule 6(e) of Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the United States and Switzerland.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Ariz. Family Health P'ship v. HHS (D.D.C.) -- declining to issue injunction pending plaintiff’s appeal of court’s decision permitting agency to release redacted versions of plaintiff’s Title X grant applications.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Court orders EPA to release Andrew Wheeler’s contacts with outside groups within 10 months
By Dino Grandoni, Wash. Post, Jan. 7, 2019
A federal judge has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to release tens of thousands of emails and other documents involving the agency’s top-level political appointees — including acting chief Andrew Wheeler — in a move activists hope will clarify how industry interests may be influencing their decisions.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in a Dec. 26 ruling, ordered the release of about 20,000 emails exchanged between industry groups and 25 Trump officials within the next 10 months. The timeline will start as soon as the federal government fully reopens.
Read more here.
As of Monday night, January 7, 2019, the Department of the Interior has received 199 public comments in response to the agency’s proposed FOIA regulations issued on December 28, 2018. None of the comments are publicly available, however, which might be due to the government shutdown. The deadline to submit comments is January 28, 2019.
Screenshot of Regulations.gov website.
Freedom Watch, Inc. v. FBI (D D.C.) -- dismissing suit after finding that plaintiff’s request, which sought records “that refer or relate in any way to collaboration and/or communication by and between the [FBI] and Southern Poverty Law Center” since 2008 -- was not reasonably described.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Interior Department won’t accept FOIA requests during shutdown
Miranda Green, The Hill, Jan. 4, 2019
The Interior Department is not accepting public requests for information during the partial government shutdown, which is now in its 14th day with no end in sight.
The agency’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request website--an automated site that typically accepts requests through drop-down menus--is no longer receiving new submissions.
Members of the press, advocacy groups and individuals looking to request public information are now greeted with a message that reads: “No FOIA requests can be accepted or processed at this time.”
Interior spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort said the lapse in funding is why the agency cannot accept new submissions.
Read more here.
At least 6 other former employees had their files improperly released after FOIA requests, IG found
By Griffin Connolly Roll Call, Jan. 4, 2019
The U.S. Postal Service inspector general officially cleared a prominent conservative research group of any wrongdoing for getting its hands on Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s complete and unredacted official personnel file last summer.
America Rising, a conservative opposition research group contracted by dozens of conservative PACs and campaign committees each election cycle to dig up dirt on Democratic candidates, went through the proper channels, submitting a Freedom of Information Act request for Spanberger’s file to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the IG concluded in its report released in late December.
Read more here.
[P.S. I submitted the FOIA request in question on behalf of America Rising Corp.]