The FOIA blog

Government Wins FOIA Case, Lies To Judge.

The government does not have to release any further documents in a lawsuit brought by a group of Muslim individuals in the U.S. Federal Court for the District of California, but Judge Cormac Carney is not pleased with the way the government defended the case.  According to the opinion, courtesy of the website, Main Justice, the government lied to the Judge about the search for responsive records in the defense of the case. 

I don't think this issue will end with this case.

Slate Magazine on Transparency Program Problems

This article in Slate Magazine takes a look at the President's Transparency program and why it hasn't met the President's own expectations.  While the article really doesn't center on the FOIA, I think all the transparency program issues that are not computer related end with the same conclusion -- there isn't one person monitoring and pushing agencies into compliance. 

More on ACCG v. State

Here's a very good summary of the case from one of my clients in the matter, the Ancient Coin Collector's Guild.

Sixth Circuit Rules Against DHS on Privacy Act Case

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Department of Homeland Security cannot exempt the TECS database used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection from the provisions of the Privacy Act which allow individuals to seek amendment of the records and then file a civil suit based on the agency's failure to do so.  The case can be found here:

Download Shearson-opinion-21APR2011[1]

 Update: Here's more on this from the Papers,Please blog.  It includes a summary of the case as well as more on the Appellant in the case.

Government Loses Classification Issue

Judge Richard W. Roberts of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled that the United States Trade Representative has failed to establish that one document withheld pursuant to a FOIA request by the Center for International Environmental Law is not properly classified and therefore not withholdable pursuant to FOIA Exemption 1.  In making his finding, Judge Roberts found that the reasons the agency gave for classifying the document were inconsistent and therefore did not allow for the material to be classified.

The government gets a high degree of deference in classifying information; it is rare that a court finds that the government did not establish that the material was properly classified.  However, in this case, the government's declarations reached inconsistent conclusions and the court found that this was enough to invalidate the classification.

ACCG v. State Case Summary - DC Circuit

Here is a summary of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in ACCG et al v. State by the Reporters Committee for the freedom of the Press.  Please note that I am counsel for the appellants in this matter.

Analysis of Chief FOIA Officer Reports

OMB Watch has this analysis of the most recent Chief FOIA Officer reports.  These reports provide discussions of agency efforts to improve FOIA implementation.

Transparency Funds Cut

The Washington Post is reporting that the budget deal for FY2011 will impact government transparency.  As FOIA professionals and requesters already know, FOIA is not a congressional line item on the budget, so isn't something subject to cuts at the congressional level.  However, as the money comes from agency funds, any agencies looking to make cuts in its programs may very well look at their FOIA programs for savings.

Tape of Senator's Wild Landing Released

The Audio of Senator James Imhofe (R-Ok) landing his plane on a closed runway last October has been released along with the report of the incident.  More can be found at AVweb.com.

Faster FOIA Bill Amended, Weakened and Reported to Full Senate

The Faster FOIA Act has been amended and reported out of committee by the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The latest version of the bill can be found here.

The amendment weakens this bill in that it removes the one provision that mandated the committee looking at the FOIA to examine whether the use of any exemptions could be curtailed.  Inserted instead was a provision that the committee is supposed to look at the politicization of FOIA requests.  This is of course already the subject of House Oversight Hearings.  

Readers of the FOIA blog already are aware that I do not like this bill because I believe that no committee is needed to come up with ideas for improving the FOIA -- there are tons of ideas floating; some of which I outlined in the past.  Additionally, real hearings held by the Judiciary Committee and staff footwork could come up with a bill that would make the FOIA faster.  And if the politicization issue, which is already being looked at is something Congress wants to outlaw they should just put it into law.

Maybe this bill should be called the Not So Faster FOIA.