Below is a summary of the notable FOIA court decisions and news from last month, as well as a look ahead to FOIA events in February.
Court opinions
We posted and summarized 17 opinions in January. Highlights include Am. First Legal Found. v. U.S. Gov’t Accountability Office (D.D.C.), in which the court held that the U.S. Government Accountability Office is not subject to FOIA because it is a legislative-branch agency. In Leopold v. DOJ (D.D.C. Jan. 15, 2026), on remand from the D.C. Circuit, the court found that DOJ established reasonably foreseeable harm to Exemption 8 interests if an independent monitor’s report were disclosed assessing HSBC Bank’s anti–money‑laundering and sanctions compliance program.
Top news
EPA plans to rescind its regulation mandating expedited processing for FOIA requests and appeals involving environmental justice, as outlined in a proposed rule published on January 27th.
On January 15th, the Defense Department eliminated its regulations pertaining to its Stars and Stripes newspaper following its solicitation of public comments in 2024 concerning the newspaper’s FOIA access rights, among other things.
On January 20, 2026, records from the first Trump administration became subject to FOIA for the first time
Effective January 22, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security ceased accepting paper or emailed FOIA requests.
The National FOIA Hall of Fame, founded in 1996 by the First Amendment Center and now under the leadership of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project, inducted 16 new members, including OIP co-founder Richard Huff and the current OGIS Director, Alina Semo.
February calendar
Feb. 4: DOJ/OIP hosts Virtual Advanced Freedom of Information Act Training, 10:00am to 1:30pm EST.
Feb. 6: Deadline for agencies that received fewer than 100 requests in Fiscal Year 2024 to submit their 2026 Chief FOIA Officer Reports to DOJ/OIP
Feb. 13: Deadline to submit nominations to the DOJ for the 2026 Sunshine Week FOIA Awards.