The FOIA blog

Reaction To Issa Oversight Request

Reaction to House Government Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa's (R-Ca) request to all government agencies for detailed lists of all FOIA requests for the past five years has drawn a strong negative reaction from a number of places

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md), Issa's Democratic counterpart on the panel has bashed the request as wasteful and costly to the federal government.

A number of others worry in this NY Times article that the broad scope of the request is creepy and poses civil liberty concerns. AMERICAblog worries about the request as well.  Finally, journalist Russ Baker breaks down the request and why some are concerned with Issa.

I may be accused of being naive, but I don't think Issa has a dark sinister motive behind the request such as outing individuals or groups for making too many FOIA requests.  I take him at his word that he wants to improve FOIA operations in the government.  However, it is clear he wants to score political points and put the current administration in the hot seat (I note that he and/or his other GOP representatvie never asked for the same type of information when they were in charge of Congress during the majority of the George W. Bush administration).  Finally, I think the request is a bit too broad-- so broad in fact, that Issa's own staff will be hampered by the amount of information they receive.  I'd rather see hearings with folks from OMB and DOJ (both political and career) on the hot seat answering why they haven't done more to implement the President's FOIA policy.

Financial Crisis Committee to Post Documents

The Blog of the Legal Times reports that the Congressional Commission set up to investigate the financial crisis has began to post raw documents created and received during its investigation.  In the story, the U.S. Chamber of Congress attacks this transparency.

Issa Wants to See FOIA Requests

According to the AP, Darrell Issa, the new House Oversight Committee Chair has asked all government agencies to provide the committee with lists that the agencies have maintained during the previous five years with the names of people who sought federal records, dates of their requests, descriptions of what they asked to receive and whether they ever received anything.  Where requesters did not receive the records they wanted without the government justifying the decision, Issa asked for copies of all letters or e-mails between government workers and the people who sought the documents. The five years cover part of the Bush administration and the first years of Obama's presidency.

While overseeing transparency and FOIA matters is a fine goal, I'm not sure that asking for this volume of documents is the way to go about it.  One of the problems is that for the next month, the agencies that are trying to respond to FOIA requests will also have to respond to the committee.  Further, many of the statistics sought should be available on the agencies annual reports.  However, the good thing is that Issa is taking an interest in the issue, which hopefully will spur civil servants to follow through on the Presidents goals on transparency and the FOIA.

Grassley Asks DOJ to Release Medicare Billing Records

Sen. Charles Grassley has asked the Department of Justice to reverse its position on the release of Medicare Billing Records according to the Blogof the Legal Times.  Grassley's interest was raised by a recently filed lawsuit by the Wall Street Journalunder the FOIA to get this information, despite a decades-old ruling that allowed this material to be withheld by the government because, according to the decision, the physicians' privacy rights outweighed the public's right to know what the government is up to.

Basically, Grassley is asking the Department of Justice to reweigh doctors' privacy over the public's right to know how much the doctors received in payment.  Unfortunately for Grassley and the public, the Department of Justice has taken little interest in relooking at previous non-disclosure actions and thinking outside of the box in processing and defending FOIA matters.  Hopefully, because Grassley specifically asked individuals who are politically nominated and therefore have some clout in these matters, the Department will consider his request and look for this as an opportunity to increase transparency.

Bill to Make Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Subject to FOIA Introduced

The Hill reports that Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Ut) has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to make Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac subject to the FOIA.  Previously, these two entities were not subject to the FOIA because while they were created by the government, they weren't technically government entities.  Currently, they are in receivership and the question of their current FOIA status is up in the air with a number of lawsuits on that question pending.

I strongly believe that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be subject to the FOIA -- as well as similar organizations like the Public Corporation Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB").  Hopefully, this will received Democratic support in the House and will have a chance to succeed in the Senate.

POGO Reveals Hidden SEC OIG Investigations

The Project on Government Oversight ("POGO") has collected and published a number of SEC Office of Inspector General Investigations into wrongdoing by the SEC itself -- the site can be found here.

These are the types of reports that should probably be posted on the SEC's FOIA website -- but if you recall the SEC was the agency that was able to get a large FOIA exemption carved into last summer's Financial Reform bill -- an exemption that was revoked once it was revealed to the public-.  So it shouldn't really be surprising to anyone that this agency is not proactive in posting this type of information.

DOJ Employees Warned About Leaking Need Not Be Disclosed

Judge Maxine Chesny of the United States Court for the Northern District of California has determined that the names of Department of Justice employees who were warned about leaking may be withheld pursuant to FOIA Exemption 7(C). 

More on this issue can be found in this article by Politico's Josh Gerstein. 

Supreme Court Hears Corporate Privacy FOIA Case

Here is the synopsis from Talk Radio News on today's Supreme Court argument concerning Corporate Privacy and FOIA Exemption 7(C).

And here's CNN's take on the argument.

Here's the Washington Post article on the argument.

And finally, here's the Blog of the Legal Times article.

We should know the results of the argument by June.

Supreme Court to Hear Corporate Privacy Case Today

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today (January 19, 2011) on whether or not corporations have privacy pursuant to FOIA Exemption 7(C) today.  For those of you unfamiliar with the case, the Sunlight Foundation has this excellent synopsis of the case.

House to Investigate Political Appointee's Involvement With FOIA Requests

According to the Examiner, the House of Representatives will investigate political appointee's involvement with FOIA requests.  

If the new House leadership is serious about overseeing FOIA and transparency policies within the government, I believe the investigation would look at why there are no top political appointees at Justice with the portfolio to implement the President's transparency programs.  The administration has allowed  career FOIA people, who are well meaning but powerless, to remain in charge of FOIA policy including litigation policy.  As a result, the President's intended policy has had limited impact.