FOIA Advisor

FOIA News: 9th Circuit permits FAA to withhold air traffic controller exam

FOIA News (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

Info on air-traffic controllers exam exempt from FOIA - 9th Circuit

By Daniel Wiessner, Westlaw News, Oct. 22, 2019

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was not required to disclose information about a test taken by aspiring air traffic controllers to an applicant who failed and suspected that others had cheated.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the minimum score applicants must receive to pass the test, and the score that plaintiff Jorge Rojas received when he failed it in 2014, fell under an exemption in the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for information “related solely to (an agency’s) internal personnel rules and practices.”

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