Ctr. for Medical Progress v. HHS (D.D.C.) -- finding that HHS properly relied on Exemption 6 to withhold identities of two NIH employees who worked on university grant application pertaining to the collection and distribution of fetal stem cell tissue, noting that the potential for violence and harassment outweighed plaintiff’s asserted public interests.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
FEC agrees to pay NRA $25,000 for hiding key documents
By Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, Aug. 8, 2023
The Federal Election Commission agreed today to pay $25,000 to the National Rifle Association for hiding documents critical to the gun lobby’s effort to defend itself in a costly election lawsuit.
The embarrassing agreement will cover the costs NRA lawyers spent in its Freedom of Information Act suit against the FEC.
Read more here.
IRS Can Hide Fraud ID Docs From FOIA Request, 8th Circ. Told
By Anna Scott Farrell, Law360, Aug. 7, 2023
The IRS was right to withhold its techniques for questioning fraud suspects from a retired Harvard law professor's records request under the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. government argued Monday,...
Read more here (accessible with free registration)
Underlying case information is here.
On August 4, 2023, the Office of Government Information Services published Assessing Freedom of Information Act Compliance through the National Archives and Records Administration’s 2022 Records Management Self-Assessment, which discusses the results of six FOIA questions posed to agency records officers.
Three Men Battle the FBI Over Buried Civil War Gold. ‘Stuff Just Doesn’t Add Up.’
Treasure hunters are aiming to prove there were tons of loot in the ground in Pennsylvania—and that the government took it
By Kris Maher, Wall St. J., Aug. 5, 2023
DENTS RUN, Pa.—Dennis Parada points to a weedy spot where he believes the Federal Bureau of Investigation dug up nine tons of Civil War-era gold, worth more than $500 million, and made off with it in the middle of the night.
The patch of ground halfway up a mountain in western Pennsylvania lies at the heart of the treasure hunter’s quest to recover the trove and prove it was snatched from under his nose. The matter is now playing out in federal court.
At 70, he has been chasing the Dents Run gold for more than 40 years. “It’s definitely a major coverup,” says Parada, who has the mustache of a 19th-century gambler and smokes his cigarettes down to a stub.
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The Paradas sued the FBI last year in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. seeking enforcement of a Freedom of Information Act request. They now allege the FBI has failed to turn over certain records and doctored some photos to conceal a night dig.
The FBI declined to comment on the lawsuit, but denies it kept digging at night.
Read more here (subscription required).
The FOIA case docket is available here.
The FOIA Complaint is available here.
Vaskas v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- in case concerning records of plaintiff’s criminal conviction for possession of child pornography, holding that: (1) agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with the Federal Victims’ Protection & Rights Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3509(d); (2) agency properly invoked Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold communications pertaining its investigation, case planning and surveillance of plaintiff; (3) agency properly withheld identifying information of government employees and third parties pursuant to Exemptions 6 and 7(C).
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
La Union DEL Pueblo Entero v. FEMA (S.D. Tex.) -- in most relevant part, (1) adopting magistrate’s report and recommendation (R&R) that FEMA failed to show that it adequately searched for records concerning its “Individuals and Households Program”; and (2) agreeing with R&R that FOIA authorizes prospective injunctive relief as a remedy, but declining to decide whether it can enforce the electronic reading room requirement.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Ramaswamy sues DOJ, files fresh records request for Trump indictment details
By Julia Miller, The Hill, Aug. 2, 2023
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Tuesday announced he’s suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) and filing a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request for more details about the recent indictments of former President Trump.
Read more here.
Some U.S. government agencies are testing out AI to help fulfill public records requests
Open government and civil rights advocates warn that using AI to answer Freedom of Information Act requests may create new problems.
By Lewis Kamb, NBC News, Aug. 1, 2023
A few federal agencies have started to use sophisticated artificial intelligence tools to help deal with immense caseloads of Freedom of Information Act requests, but some transparency advocates warn that the government needs additional safeguards before more widely deploying the technology.
At least three agencies — the State Department, the Justice Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — have tried out or are now testing machine-learning models and algorithms to help search for information in repositories holding billions of government records, federal officials confirmed to NBC News in recent interviews.
Read more here.
Biear v. DOJ (M.D. Pa) -- deciding that: (1) FBI properly withheld records pertaining to plaintiff pursuant to Exemption 3, 7(D), and 7(E), per magistrate’s report and recommendation (R&R) ; (2) with two exceptions, including the names of deceased individuals, R&R would be granted with respect to FBI’s withholdings pursuant to Exemption 6 and 7(C).
Kinnucan v. Nat'l Sec. Agency (W.D. Wash.) -- holding that NSA and CIA properly relied on Exemptions 1 and 3 to redact portions of records records relating to a 1967 attack by Israeli forces on a U.S. naval intelligence ship.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.