The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument in Hall v. CIA, No. 22-5235, on Friday, October 11, 2024. The issue on appeal is whether the CIA performed an adequate search for records related to prisoners of war from the Vietnam War.
The district court ruled in the government’s favor.
Livestream audio is available here.
DC Circ. Wary Of Ga. Voting Ruling's FOIA Impact
By Ali Sullivan, Law360, Oct. 4, 2024
A D. C. Circuit panel seemed concerned Friday with the practical implications of a trial court's holding that the Freedom of Information Act compels the disclosure of the U. S. Department of Justice's communications with private co-litigants in lawsuits challenging a controversial Georgia voting law.
At issue during the oral arguments was a February 23 ruling from U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, who ordered the Justice Departmant to fork over records of its discussions with the nongovernmental groups in response to a FOIA request from Georgia officials. The judge held that a disclosure exemption for “intra-agency” memos wasn’t applicable—an interpretation the DOJ has cast as impractical and overly narrow.
Read more here (access with free trial subscription).
The American Society of Access Professionals has announced the opening of registration for a special symposium to mark the 50th Anniversary of the 1974 FOIA Amendments. The event, which is co-sponsored by the George Washington University School of Law and the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, will be held on November 1, 2024 at the GW Law School. In addition to panels throughout the day, the event will feature a “mini” career fair that will allow students to explore careers in public access and FOI.
Confirmed speakers include:
Alan Morrison
David Cuillier
Lauren Harper
Nate Jones
Katie Townsend
Thomas Susman
Miriam Nisbet
Ryan Mulvey
Jason R. Baron
Anne Weismann
Registration information and further details are available here.
GSA Seeks Ideas for the Sixth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan
DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Oct. 2, 2024
Representing the United States’ interests as a founding member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), the U.S. Open Government Secretariat within the Government Services Administration (GSA) seeks public comments as it kicks off the co-creation process for the Sixth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan (NAP). GSA invites input from a wide and diverse array of stakeholders from the public, private, advocacy, not-for-profit, and philanthropic sectors, including state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. Members of the public as well as agency personnel are encouraged to provide feedback. Public and agency input is critical in shaping a NAP that reflects the needs and priorities of the American people.
Read more here.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy has announced agency deadlines for the submission of Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Reports, Fiscal Year 2025 Quarterly FOIA Reports, and 2025 Chief FOIA Officer Reports. Read more here.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument in Georgia v. DOJ, No. 20-5083, on Friday, October 4, 2024. The issue on appeal is whether Exemption 5’s consultant corollary doctrine protects certain communications between DOJ and outside parties in lawsuits where plaintiffs entered into a common interest agreement with DOJ.
The district court ruled against the government.
Livestream audio is available here.
Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests
The conservative think tank has filed thousands of public-information requests, clogging the pipeline at federal agencies in an apparent attempt to find employees a potential Trump administration would want to purge.
By Sharon Lerner and Andy Kroll, ProPublica, Oct. 1, 2024
Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and messages sent by individual government workers that mention, among other things, “climate equity,” “voting” or “SOGIE,” an acronym for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.
The Heritage team filed these requests even as the think tank’s Project 2025 was promoting a controversial plan to remove job protections for tens of thousands of career civil servants so they could be identified and fired if Donald Trump wins the presidential election.
See more here.
BREAKING: “FOIA Lady” Plans to Plead the Fifth After Wenstrup Announces Subpoena for Her Testimony
Ms. Margaret Moore, a lead staffer in NIH’s FOIA office, allegedly taught NIAID officials how to “make emails disappear”
Press Release, U.S. House of Rep., Comm. on Oversight & Accountability, Sept. 30, 2024
WASHINGTON — Today, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) announced a subpoena to compel Ms. Margaret Moore — known infamously as the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) “FOIA Lady” — to appear for a deposition on October 4, 2024. Documents suggest that Ms. Moore was involved in a conspiracy to teach National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) officials how to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and avoid public transparency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Moore’s counsel has informed the Select Subcommittee that his client plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination during the deposition on Friday.
Read more here.
By Daniel Seiden, Bloomberg Law, Sept. 26, 2024
The US Department of Justice will pay $65,266 in attorneys’ fees and expenses to settle a Freedom of Information Act dispute with a non-profit organization concerning the government’s supply of pentobarbital used in lethal injections, a federal district court filing said.
This settlement with Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington will release the government from any future expenses claimed in this case, filed by the organization at the US District Court for the District of Columbia in 2019, the Wednesday notice of settlement said.
Read more here (subscription required).
See district court’s 2024 decision here.
The Office of Government Information Services has released an analysis of agency FOIA compliance based on four survey questions that were included in NARA’s annual records management self-assessment for 2023. Here were the key results:
The 2023 data reflect a 5-percentage point increase in agency FOIA programs reporting minimal or no pandemic-related impact to the FOIA backlog (84 percent) over 2022 (79 percent). The number of agencies reporting a continuing moderate or significant negative impact to the backlog caused by the pandemic dropped 2-percentage points from 2022 to 16 percent.
A majority of agencies (59 percent) post records only on an ad-hoc basis (“as needed”) when no FOIA request has been filed.
Agencies continue to struggle with providing FOIA information, context, and guidance to requesters on their FOIA websites.
Almost half (48 percent) of respondents reported including language covering FOIA obligations in contracts for services and products.