Judges Turn Up Heat on Feds Over Stalled Records Requests
By Megan Mineirof, Courthouse News Serv., Oct. 10, 2019
Tired and frustrated, federal judges are strategically ordering government agencies to pick up the pace in responding to Freedom of Information Act requests to pressure Congress into allocating more funding to offices tasked with releasing records to the public.
“There is this constant tension of wanting to pressure the agencies more … because it is the only way they will allocate the resources,” U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said in court Thursday.
The frustration Moss admitted — during a status conference to discuss a FOIA request for documents on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a lawsuit filed by Senate Democrats during his confirmation process — was similarly shared last week by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.
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