Groups see new openings for digging up dirt on Trump
By Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, Apr. 20, 2021
Public interest groups determined to stay focused on the Trump administration say they have new openings for unearthing information now that the past government’s political appointees have departed.
Various groups that flooded the government with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests say the departures have greased the wheels of various agencies’ public records shops.
Read more here.
Poulsen v. DOD (9th Cir.) -- in a 2-1 decision, reversing district court’s decision that plaintiff was ineligible for attorney’s fees and remanding case for a determination concerning plaintiff’s entitlement to such fees. Here, the majority concluded that plaintiff substantially prevailed under 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(E)(ii)(I), because the district court issued a scheduling order when the government agreed to process documents following an intervening declassification order from President Trump. The dissent argued that plaintiff was ineligible for fees because he failed to show that his lawsuit “was a substantial cause (or indeed any cause at all) of the relief he obtained.”
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
N.Y. Times v. BOP (S.D.N.Y.) -- ordering in camera review of documents pertaining to the death of Jeffrey Epstein, which BOP withheld under Exemption 7(A).
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
The Information Society Project at Yale Law School posted this remote discussion entitled “Fixing FOIA: Comparative Solutions to America’s Transparency Deficit.” Panelists included representatives from Mexico, Canada, and the Administrative Conference of the United State.
Facebook Tells 1st Circ. To Reverse FTC Doc Release Order
Law360, Apr. 12, 2021
Facebook has urged the First Circuit to reverse an order requiring the Federal Trade Commission to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to a $5 billion settlement with Facebook, saying dissenting comments from two FTC commissioners are not "official" disclosures triggering the official-acknowledgment doctrine. The doctrine is a three-prong test courts use to determine if a government agency or official waived a FOIA exemption by publicly discussing previously undisclosed information.
Read more here (accessible with free trial).
District court opinion and docket here.
The Chief FOIA Officers Council will meet virtually on April 29, 2021, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. Members of the public can watch the on National Archives YouTube Channel or register to attend via Webex. See details here.
The flip side of FOIA: Mountains of paper, small government staffs and — for some — an attitude problem
By Courtney Kueppers, Chicago Tribune, Apr. 9, 2021
Inside a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s Southwest Side, rows of white-and-blue boxes sit below flickering fluorescent lights, holding a vast number of documents belonging to Cook County government.
One agency alone, the assessor’s office, has about 12,000 boxes here. Each is stuffed with roughly 40 pounds of paper, things like property assessment appeals from 2009 or certificates of error issued in 2014.
Nearly every weekday, an assessor’s office employee drives to the warehouse, signs in at the front desk, then gets to work searching for the boxes that contain records people have requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
Read more here.
Greene v. DOJ (D. Minn.) -- ruling that: (1) plaintiff’s untimeliness claim was moot because EOUSA responded to plaintiff’s request, which sought statistical information about grand juries, after plaintiff filed his Complaint; (2) plaintiff constructively exhausted his administrative remedies with respect to the adequacy of EOUSA’s search, but granting summary judgment in agency’s favor.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Federal Reserve announces final rule making technical, clarifying changes to the Federal Open Market Committee’s rules describing its Freedom of Information Act procedures
Press Release, Bd. of Gov. of the Fed. Res., Apr. 8, 2021
The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced a final rule that makes technical, clarifying updates to the Federal Open Market Committee's rules describing its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) procedures. The final rule is generally similar to the proposal from October 2020, with a few changes in response to public comments.
Read more here.
Apr. 6, 2021
Cox. v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury (D.D.C.) -- dismissing claim because plaintiff failed to administratively appeal from Internal Revenue Service’s responses to his requests.
Apr. 5, 2021
Human Rights Def. Ctr. v. DHS (W.D. Wash.) -- deciding that DHS improperly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold names of Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees from certain civil settlement agreements.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.