FOIA News: Nat'l Archives to reopen research facilities on Tuesday

Although not a FOIA matter per se, it is worth noting that the National Archives and Records Administration will reopen its research facilities and museums on Tuesday, per the agency’s website notice:

Court opinion issued Jan. 25, 2019

Judicial Watch v. DOD (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that the presidential communications privilege protected in full five memoranda that “memorialized advice to the President and his top national security advisers when the President was considering whether to order a military strike on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: Dep't of Interior extends comment deadline by one day

The Department of the Interior has extended the public comment period for its proposed regulations from January 28, 2019, to January 29, 2019, as set forth in a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on January 28, 2019. The reason for the one-day extension, according to the Department, is a technical glitch that occured in mid-January on the website regulations.gov .

Court opinion issued Jan. 24, 2019

Sandoval v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- on government’s second renewed motion for summary judgment, ruling that DOJ, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for Central Illinois performed adequate searches for records pertaining to plaintiff-inmate.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: House chair urges Interior to slow proposed FOIA regs

INTERIOR

Leading Dem calls for more time on FOIA changes

Michael Doyle, E&E News, Jan. 25, 2019

The newly empowered Democratic chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee is urging the Interior Department to slow down and open up more about controversial proposals that critics fear could effectively curtail the Freedom of Information Act.

Read more here (free trial subscription available).

Court opinion issued Jan. 22, 2019

Brennan Ctr. for Justice v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- reducing plaintiff’s requested fee award from $14,765 to $10,765 because time that plaintiff spent reviewing responsive records was not exclusively for purposes of litigation strategy, and because plaintiff’s “fee-on-fee” charges were unreasonably high.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Jan. 17, 2019

Dillon v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) FBI failed to sufficiently address why it did not produced three known emails pertaining to investigation of Bruce Ivins, who killed himself before being indicted for anthrax attacks in 2001; and (2) in camera review was warranted for requested excerpts of FBI’s interim 2006 case report, which agency claimed was entirely exempt pursuant to deliberative process privilege.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinion issued Jan. 16, 2019

Rocky Mountain Wild v. U.S. Bureau of Land Mgmt. (D. Colo., 2019) -- ruling that: (1) plaintiff’s claim concerning agency’s untimely response became moot once agency fully responded; (2) plaintiff’s claim seeking referral to Special Counsel was an invalid cause of action; and (3) plaintiff failed to establish that agency has pattern-or-practice claim of FOIA violations.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: Judge finalizes discovery plan in Clinton email suit

Judge orders Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes to answer written Benghazi questions in Clinton email lawsuit

By Samuel Chamberlain, Fox News, Jan. 15, 2019

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that former national security adviser Susan Rice and former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes must answer written questions about the State Department's response to the deadly 2012 terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, as part of an ongoing legal battle over whether Hillary Clinton sought to deliberately evade public record laws by using a private email server while secretary of state.

Read more here.

FOIA News: MuckRock on Upcoming SCOTUS FOIA Case

Upcoming Supreme Court case could hand broadened FOIA censorship powers to corporations

By Michael Morisy, MuckRock, Jan. 15, 2019

Does your right to know which companies are receiving your tax dollars outweigh those companies’ rights to competitive secrets?

That’s the question at stake in an upcoming Supreme Court case set to be heard in April, and the result could either cement the public’s right to know or severely restrict the ability to track the flow of tax dollars into private companies.

“This could be a monumental FOIA case. It could be very good, or this could be disaster for FOIA, depending on what happens here,” said Jonathan Ellis, an investigative reporter with the Argus Leader.

Read more here.