Court opinion issued Dec. 16, 2024

Inst. For Energy Research v. Dep't of the Treasury (D.D.C.) -- deciding that plaintiff was ineligible for attorney’s fees in connection with its requests for correspondence concerning the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022; reasoning that “the record demonstrates that IRS initiated its search and review process before any action was filed, IER cannot prove that its litigation catalyzed the agency's response.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Dec. 23, 2024

Federal jobs closing in the next 10 days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 9, Lackland AFB, TX, closes 12/23/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 9, Langley AFB, VA, closes 12/23/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Navy, GS 12, Annapolis, MD, closes 12/23/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Housing & Urban Dev./OIG, GS 12-13, multiple locations, closes 12/23/24 (agency only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Housing & Urban Dev./OIG, GS 12-13, multiple locations, closes 12/23/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Health & Human Serv./FDA, GS 13, Rockville, MD, closes 12/24/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Labor/OSHA, GS 9, multiple locations, closes 12/24/24 (public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Justice/Crim., GS 9, Wash., DC, closes 12/24/24 (recent graduates).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./USCIS, GS 7-11, remote, closes 12/27/24 (non-public).

Lead Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 13, Andrews AFB, MD, closes 12/27/24 (non-public).

Ass’t Gen. Counsel, Dep’t of Justice/BOP, GS 12-15, Wash., DC, closes 12/27/24 (public).

Sup. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 14, Wash., DC, closes 12/27/24 (non-public).

Sup. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 13, multiple locations, closes 12/27/24 (public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Commerce/Census, GS 13, Suitland, MD, closes 12/30/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 9, Charleston, SC, closes 12/30/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 13, Quantico, VA, closes 12/30/24 (non-public).

Federal jobs closing on or after Jan. 3, 2025

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/IRS, GS 13, multiple locations, closes 1/3/25 (non-public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Transportation/PHMSA, GS 14, Wash., DC, closes 1/9/25 (public)

Att’y Advisor, Dep’t of Justice/Pardon, GS 13-15, Wash., DC, open until filled (public).

FOIA News: CSPAN airs 50th anniversary conference for 1974 FOIA amendments

On December 19, 2024, CSPAN will air a program commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1974 FOIA amendments. Speakers will include Ralph Nader and Congressman Jamie Raskin.

FOIA News: SSA issues final FOIA regs

The Social Security Administration has issued a rule finalizing its revisions to its FOIA regulations, a process that began in June 2023. The rule is effective January 17, 2025.

FOIA News: DOJ lowered backlogged requests by 50 percent in FY 2024

According to quarterly data available on FOIA.gov for fiscal year 2024, the Department of Justice received 131,219 FOIA requests, processed 157,586 requests, and ended the year with 21,625 backlogged requests—a 50 percent backlog reduction from FY 2023 (43,927 backlogged requests). This marks DOJ’s lowest number of backlogged requests since the end of FY 2018 (17,411). The number of requests received and processed by DOJ are both record highs (as of 2008, the oldest data available on FOIA.gov), and both exceeded DOJ’s FY 2023’s totals (110.934 and 144,065, respectively).

DOJ typically receives the most requests annually behind the Department of Homeland Security, whose data for the fourth quarter of FY 2024 has not yet been posted.

Court opinion issued Dec. 13, 2024

Found. for Gov’t Accountability v. DOJ (M.D. Fla.) --granting DOJ’s renewed summary motion following in camera inspection of three documents pertaining to Executive Order 14019; finding that: (1) DOJ properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold “a compilation of fragmented notes” of a DOJ employee memorializing a listening session in which voting rights advocates shared ideas and strategies with the White House and executive branch officials; and (2) DOJ properly relied on Exemption 5’s presidential communications privilege to withhold its strategic plan and rejecting plaintiff’s arguments that: (a) disclosure of fact sheet and strategic plans by other agencies waived the privilege for DOJ; (b) that the President was required to personally invoke the privilege; and (c) that the strategic plan reflected only DOJ decision-making, not presidential decision-making; further finding that DOJ’s strategic plan was treated as a confidential document and that DOJ sufficiently identified multiple foreseeable harms.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Dec. 16, 2024

Federal positions closing in the next 10 days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 11, Jamaica Plain, MA, closes 12/17/24 (agency only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Navy, GS 12, Annapolis, MD, closes 12/18/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Health & Human Serv./FDA, GS 12, Rockville, MD, closes 12/20/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Miami, FL, closes 12/20/24 (non-public).

Gen. Att’y, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./USCIS, GS 13-15, Camp Springs, MD, closes 12/20/24 (non-public).

Info. Release Tech., Dep’t of the Army, GS 6-8, Quantico, VA, closes 12/20/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./USCIS, GS 12, remote, closes 12/20/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, GS 11, Portland, OR,closes 12/20/24 (non-public).

Sup. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Energy/NNSA, NQ 4, Albuquerque, NM, closes 12/20/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Housing & Urban Dev./OIG, GS 12-13, multiple locations, closes 12/23/24 (agency only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Housing & Urban Dev./OIG, GS 12-13, multiple locations, closes 12/23/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Health & Human Serv./FDA, GS 13, Rockville, MD, closes 12/24/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Labor/OSHA, GS 9, multiple locations, closes 12/24/24 (public).

Federal positions closing on or after Dec. 27, 2024

Ass’t Gen. Counsel, Dep’t of Justice/BOP, GS 12-15, Wash., DC, closes 12/27/24 (public).

Sup. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 13, multiple locations, closes 12/27/24 (public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/IRS, GS 13, multiple locations, closes 1/3/25 (non-public).

Att’y-Advisor, Dep’t of Transportation/PHMSA, GS 14, Wash., DC, closes 1/9/25 (public)

Att’y Advisor, Dep’t of Justice/Pardon, GS 13-15, Wash., DC, open until filled (public).

Court opinion issued Dec. 9, 2024

Bal v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury (S.D.N.Y.) -- finding that: (1) Treasury performed adequate search for records pertaining to blockage of pro se plaintiff’s $400 PayPal payment to a third party to rent an apartment in Cuba; (2) Treasury properly relied on Exemption 4 to withhold specific details about transaction at issue, noting that both Treasury and PayPal “keep this information confidential in order to prevent others from future sanctions evasions”; and (3) Treasury properly relied on Exemption 6 to redact a telephone number and names of PayPal employees who were involved in the blocking of plaintiff’s funds.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

FOIA News: Court orders FDIC to reprocess crypto letters

FDIC Must Reconsider Redactions Of Crypto 'Pause' Letters

By Aislinn Keely, Law 360, Dec. 12, 2024

A Washington, D. C. federal judge told the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Thursday to "make more thoughtful redactions" of certain crypto-focused letters it handed over in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed on behalf of crypto exchange Coinbase, since the regulator's heavy-handed first pass seemed to lack a "good-faith effort."

A text order from the U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes directed the FDIC to re-review four heavily redacted crypto letters and submit updated versions by Jan. 3. Judge Reyes warned that the agency “should be prepare to defend each new redaction in an ex parte discussion with the Judge.”

The letters are at the center of a legal battle between the FDIC and History Associates, a research consultancy with experience in FOIA requests that Coinbase hired to chase down any paper trail of an alleged “deliberate and concerted effort by the FDIC and other financial regulators” to box crypto out of the banking system.

Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription).

FOIA News: Border Protection Says It’s Swamped

Border Protection Says It's Swamped With FOIA Requests

By Tom Lotshaw, Law360, Dec. 12, 2024

U. S. Customs and Border Protection told a judge it is working to hand over records Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requested months ago, but said a spike in document requests has made it "almost impossible" to meet Freedom of Information Act deadlines..

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In a joint scheduling report filed Tuesday, CBP said a staff of 31 full-time employees works to respond to FOIA requests on a “first-in, first-out basis,” but added that it received nearly 180,00 such requests in fiscal year 2024—a 25% jump from the prior year.”

Read more here (accessible with free trial).