On January 27, 2023, EPA updated its “frequently asked questions” about the decommissioning of FOIAonline, which is scheduled to take place on September 30, 2023.
FOIA News: Communicate plainly (but not like a child)
FOIA News (2015-2024)CommentFOIA Communication: Keep it Simple!
Office of Gov’t Info. Serv., FOIA Ombudsman, Feb. 1, 2023
Plain language has long been an interest of ours as we have observed that clear, concise and well-organized correspondence smoothes the FOIA process for all. After we put plain language on our 2022 holiday wish list, we’re pleased that the Center for Plain Language included FOIA webpages in its 11th annual Report Card on how well agencies follow the 2010 Plain Writing Act.
The nonprofit group graded the “contact us” and main FOIA request pages for 21 agencies, including all 15 Cabinet-level departments.
Read more here.
Court opinions issued Jan. 31, 2023
Court Opinions (2015-2024)CommentCitizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Wash. v. DOJ (D.C. Cir.) -- reversing and remanding district court’s decision and concluding that: (1) agency failed to establish that the names of companies that supply the government with a drug used for lethal injections qualify as “commercial” information under Exemption 4; and (2) agency failed to show how certain “key contract terms” were “confidential” under Exemption 4.
Sherven v. Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Bd. (D.D.C.) -- dismissing case because plaintiff neglected to file an administrative appeal with agency after receiving agency’s final determination.
Sabra v. U.S. Customs & Border Prot. (D.D.C.) -- granting government’s renewed summary judgment motion after finding that CBP conducted adequate search for records concerning plaintiff and that it properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 5 (attorney work product), 6, 7(C), 7(E), and 7(F).
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
FOIA News: DC Circ. Revives FOIA Suit Seeking Execution Drug Info
FOIA News (2015-2024)CommentDC Circ. Revives FOIA Suit Seeking Execution Drug Info
By Micah Danney, Law360, Jan. 31, 2023
The D.C. Circuit found Tuesday that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons wrongly refused to reveal the names of suppliers of a lethal injection drug to the nonprofit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, reversing a lower court's ruling that their identities were protected commercial information.
Read more here (subscription).
FOIA News: More annual reports
FOIA News (2015-2024)CommentOn January 24, 2023, we posted more than two dozen agency FOIA reports for fiscal year 2022. Below are several more reports that we have located over the past week.
U.S. Postal Service (received 20 percent fewer requests than in FY 2021)
National Council on Disability (received only 16 requests)
National Endowment for the Humanities (received only 48 requests)
U.S. Institute for Peace (received only 4 requests)
Americorps (received only 48 requests)
Privacy and Civil Liberties Board (received only 41 requests)
Court opinion issued Jan. 26, 2023
Court Opinions (2015-2024)CommentAm. Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rts. Proj. v. ICE (2nd Cir.) -- in a questionable ruling, reversing and remanding district court’s decision that requiring agency to substitute unique identifying numbers for FOIA-exempt alien identification numbers constituted the impermissible creation of new records.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
FOIA News: Former President Trump Submitted Multiple FOIA Requests to IRS
FOIA News (2015-2024)CommentFOIA News: 2nd Circ. Rules ICE Must Help ACLU Track Immigration Cases
FOIA News (2015-2024)Comment2nd Circ. Rules ICE Must Help ACLU Track Immigration Cases
By Brian Steele, Law360, Jan. 26, 2023
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must give the American Civil Liberties Union a digital key for tracking individual cases in a voluminous set of spreadsheets that the agency turned over in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, or reorganize the data and send it again, the Second Circuit held Thursday in a ruling that sets new precedent.
Read more here (subscription).
FOIA News: 2022 annual FOIA reports
FOIA News (2015-2024)CommentFederal agencies are required to post their fiscal year 2022 annual reports by March 1, 2023. Several agencies are ahead of the curve. We’ll post more reports as they become available.
Department of Agriculture (status quo; 17k requests received and processed)
National Science Foundation (nice cover page)
Office of Management & Budget (very slow processing times)
Federal Reserve System (low backlog)
Securities and Exchange Commission ($7 million processing costs; collected only $5k processing fees)
Millennium Challenge Corporation (only 21 requests received)
National Indian Gaming Commission (only 48 requests received)
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (only 12 requests received)
Udall Foundation (only 3 requests received)
Social Security Administration (collected $186k processing fees)
Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation (misnamed “FY 2023”; only 18 requests received)
Postal Regulatory Commission (only 45 requests received)
Selective Service System (only 48 requests received)
Court opinion issued Jan. 20, 2023
Court Opinions (2015-2024)CommentState of Indiana v. President Joseph R. Biden (S. Ind.) -- in suit by 14 States against Executive Office of the President, President Biden, the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Garland, U.S. Department of Education, and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, ruling that: (1) individual defendants are not agencies subject to FOIA requests “whether named in an official capacity or not”; and (2) neither EOP, as a whole, nor the White House Office’s Domestic Policy Council are agencies to which a FOIA request may be directed.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.