FOIA News: Court questions HUD’s summer FOIA shutdown

HUD Asked If FOIA Summer Shutdown Plan Is 'Even Lawful'

By Frank G. Runyeon, Law360, May 15, 2020

A Manhattan federal judge on Friday questioned whether a federal agency had the right to effectively halt processing Freedom of Information Act requests for weeks or months as he mulled ordering the government back into action.

U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman told counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development he doubted that the government had the authority to simply stop handling FOIA requests while the agency rolls over its document review systems this summer from mid-June to mid-July, noting the government's responsibility to obey the law.

Read more here.

FOIA News: American Battle Monuments Commission Updates FOIA Regs

SUMMARY: This final rule amends the American Battle Monuments Commission’s (ABMC) regulations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The procedures and guidelines have been revised for compliance with FOIA to incorporate changes required by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 and applicable Department of Justice Office of Information Policy guidance.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued May 14, 2020

Bloche v. DOD (D.D.C.) -- on renewed summary judgment, which plaintiffs did not dispute, ruling that: (1) Department of the Army properly relied on deliberative process and attorney-client privileges to withhold records concerning involvement of medical professionals in designing interrogation tactics; (2) Defense Intelligence Agency properly relied on Exemptions 1, 3, and/or 5 to withhold summary of trip taken to assess interrogation operations at Guantanamo Bay; and (3) Joint Task Force Guantanamo properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 7(E).

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

FOIA News: DC Circuit questions whether Clinton should be deposed

DC Circuit Tells Lawyers in Clinton Emails Case: What's Left to Resolve?

Hillary Clinton's lawyers at Williams & Connolly, pointing to a 2018 D.C. Circuit decision, have argued there's no basis for a deposition. Judicial Watch, the plaintiff in the public-records case, contends the dispute is not moot.

By Mike Scarcella, Nat’l Law Journal, May 14, 2020 

A federal appeals court panel on Thursday injected some doubt over whether Hillary Clinton will be forced to sit for a rare deposition confronting her practice of using a private email server during her time as U.S. secretary of state.

The new order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asked the lawyers in the Freedom of Information Act case to address whether there is still a pending controversy to resolve. A panel of judges—Thomas Griffith, Cornelia Pillard and Robert Wilkins—on Thursday set oral argument for June 3.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Court will inspect Ukraine-related emails

Roger Stone Judge Orders White House to Turn Over Ukraine Emails Being Withheld from the Public

By Jerry Lambe, Law & Crime, May 13th, 2020

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has ordered the White House to turn over 20 emails directly relating to President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold congressionally appropriated military aid from Ukraine. The administration has refused to produce the communications thus far, claiming the documents are protected from public release by executive privilege.

The order, issued by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, stems from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the New York Times which sought communications between Michael Duffey, Principal Associate Director for National Security Programs at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and Robert Blair, a senior advisor to then-Acting White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney.

Read more here.

FOIA News: NY Times, WaPo Sue Gov't For Info On Virus Relief Loans

NY Times, WaPo Sue Gov't For Info On Virus Relief Loans

By Hailey Konnath, Law360, May 12, 2020

Five major news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and Bloomberg, slammed the U.S. Small Business Administration for purportedly illegally rebuffing public records requests regarding its Paycheck Protection Program, telling a D.C. federal court Tuesday the SBA has "no basis" to withhold the information sought.

Those publications, along with investigative nonprofit ProPublica and Wall Street Journal parent company Dow Jones, said in their complaint that they've all requested SBA records that would identify and provide basic information about businesses that have received public assistance from the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic. That public assistance includes both the agency's Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, per the suit.

Read more here (subscription).

Court opinion issued May 11, 2020

Reyes v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior (S.D. Cal.) -- concluding that: (1) Bureau of Indian Affairs performed adequate search for tribal membership and genealogy records concerning deceased family member; (2) agency properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold records concerning its processing of plaintiff’s FOIA request; and (3) plaintiff arguably asserted “policy-and-practice” claim, but neither party moved for summary judgment on that issue.

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

FOIA News: NYT editorial board bemoans FOIA delays

No, Your FOIA Request Cannot Wait ‘Until This Emergency Is Over’

Ignoring Freedom of Information Act requests during the crisis damages democracy.

NY Times Ed. Bd., May 12, 2020

* * *

Unfortunately, far too many agencies have also interpreted the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and necessary shelter-in-place orders as a justification for either further delaying or failing entirely to respond to FOIA requests. But local and federal government agencies continue to operate, albeit under altered circumstances, and the delays degrade the public’s trust in elected officials.

Taxpayers have a right to know how and where their money is being spent in the efforts to buy ventilators, masks and other essential supplies — and whether agencies are being forthright about their efforts. While the work of government continues, citizens are losing a fundamental right to transparency. That’s a threat to good government and democracy.

Read more here.

FOIA News: D.D.C. restores access to court opinions

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has restored access to its database of court opinions, which was inaccessible over the weekend. Our website links to those opinions likewise have been restored.

FOIA News: DHS Privacy Office Joins Twitter

The DHS Privacy Office is now on Twitter! Follow us @DHS_PRIV for updates on DHS Privacy Office activities, publications, and events.

— DHS Privacy Office (@dhs_priv) May 8, 2020

Join us in welcoming the DHS Chief #FOIA and #Privacy Officer to Twitter. @dhs_priv

— FOIAPost (@FOIAPost) May 11, 2020