Jobs, jobs, job: Weekly report 5/13/24

Federal positions closing in the next 10 days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp., CG 12, multiple locations, closes 5/13/24 (FDIC only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Navy, GS 12-23, Quantico, VA, closes 5/13/24 (non-public).

Super. Mgmt. Analyst, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 11, Elmendorf AFB, AK, closes 5/13/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Justice/NSD, GS 11-12, Washington, DC, closes 5/15/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/IRS, GS 13, multiple locations, closes 5/15/24 (non-public).

Sup. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GS 14, Fort Belvoir, VA, closes 5/15/24 (non-public).

Archives Specialist, Nat’l Archives & Records Admin., GS 9-11, College Park, MD, closes 5/15/24 (non-public).

Records & Info. Mgmt. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GG 12, Fort Meade, MD, closes 5/16/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Labor/SOL, GS 12-13, Washington, D.C., closes 5/16/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, GS 9, remote job, closes 5/17/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Interior/Sec’y, GG 11-12, Washington, D.C., closes 5/17/24.

Ass’t Gen. Counsel, Dep’t of Justice/BOP, GS 12-15, Washington, D.C., closes 5/17/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Transportation/FAA, FV H, Washington, D.C., closes 5/23/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Transportation/FAA, FV I, Washington, D.C., closes 5/23/24 (non-public).

Federal positions closing on or after 5/24/24

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/HQ, GS 14, Washington, D.C., closes 5/26/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/HQ, GS 14, Washington, D.C., closes 5/26/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/HQ, GS 9-13, Washington, D.C., closes 5/26/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/HQ, GS 9-13, Washington, D.C., closes 5/26/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Labor/WHD, GS 11, Washington, D.C., closes 5/28/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/IG, GS 9-11, Washington, D.C., closes 5/28/24 (non-public).

FOIA News: Sunlight for Sale: New Study Exposes Old Flaws in the Freedom of Information Act

Sunlight for Sale: New Study Exposes Old Flaws in the Freedom of Information Act

Was Scalia right about FOIA and its use and misuse?

By JPat Brown, WhoWhatWhy, May 9, 2024

In the March/April 1982 issue of Regulation, the policy periodical then published by the American Enterprise Institute, a 46-year-old University of Chicago law professor (and editor of the magazine) by the name of Antonin Scalia offered his thoughts on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 

* * *

According to a study published this March by journalism professors A.Jay Wagner and David Cuillier, entitled a “Tale of two requesters: How public records law experiences differ by requester types,” much of what Scalia wrote over 40 years ago remains true of both FOIA and its state and local equivalents. 

Read more here.

Court opinion issued May 3, 2024

Boundaoui v. FBI (N.D. Ill.) -- following in camera review of sample documents, deciding that: (1) FBI improperly relied on Exemption 7(C) to redact race, ethnic information, and nationality of people investigated, because disclosure would not increase risk of identification; (2) FBI properly withheld various categories of records pursuant to Exemption 7(E); (3) FBI met its burden to show that the withheld information could not be further segregated and released.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

Court opinion issued May 1, 2024

VRA Enters. v. CMS (M.D. Fla.) -- denying government’s motion to dismiss and oddly ruling that: (1) HHS Office of Inspector General’s response that it did not maintain requested records (and forwarding request to CMS) was not an adverse determination triggering exhaustion requirement; and (2) OIG's response letter failed to notify plaintiff of its right to seek assistance from a FOIA Public Liaison, and therefore it did not trigger actual exhaustion.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

Monthly roundup: April 2024

Below is our roundup of FOIA court decisions and FOIA news from April 2024, as well as a peek ahead to events in May.

Court decisions:

We posted 8 decisions in April, the least active month of the year by far. Of note, in Campaign for Accountability v. DOJ (D.D.C.), the court held that the Office of Legal Counsel’s “formal, written opinions resolving interagency disputes” are subject to FOIA’s reading room provision, 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)(A) because such opinions are “final opinions . . . made in the adjudications of cases.” In reaching its decision, the court rejected the government’s argument that because OLC opinions may not resolve questions of agency policy, they were not “final” opinions for purposes of section 552(a)(2)(A).

In our March roundup, we jumped the gun and omitted a meaningful decision that was issued on Sunday, March 31st, namely Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Wash. v. DOJ (D.D.C.). On remand from the D.C. Circuit, the court concluded, in part, that the names of federal contractors who supplied the Federal Bureau of Prisons with pentobarbital qualified as commercial information under Exemption 4 because disclosure would reveal that “the contractors have sold a product and/or service to the government, thereby ‘actually reveal[ing] basic commercial operations” of the contractors.’”

Top news:

Following a hectic March, which included “Sunshine Week,” April was more sluggish. The Chief FOIA Officers Council met for the first time this year on April 17, 2024, and discussed, among other topics, the U.S. Open Government National Action Plan, highlights of FY 2023 Annual Reports, and GAO’s report on FOIA backlogs.

May events:

May 7, 2024: DOJ course, Procedural Requirements, and Fee and Fee Waivers Training

May 9, 2024: Federal FOIA Advisory Committee meeting

May 14-15, 2024: NexGen FOIA Tech Showcase 2.0

May 21, 2024: DOJ course, Litigation Training

May 23, 2024: DOJ course, Administrative Appeals, FOIA Compliance, and Customer Service Training

Court opinion issued Apr. 29, 2024

Heritage Found. v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- in case concerning various communications about Timothy Thibault, a former Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, determining that: (1) DOJ properly relied on Exemptions 6 and 7(C) in refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but not for administrative records that plaintiff’s request conceivably sought; and (2) DOJ properly withheld—on a categorical basis—records of communications containing the terms “Thibault” and “Grassley” pursuant to Exemptions 6 and 7(C), except as to any responsive administrative records.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

FOIA News: FEC to amend its FOIA regulations

The Federal Election Commission will amend its FOIA regulations to conform with the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, according an interim final rule scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on May 2, 2024. Comments will be due within 30 days of the rule’s publication.

FOIA News: Law journal article explores Exemption 3

Last week, the law journal of the St. Mary’s University School of Law published an article entitled Foiled FOIA: The Excessive Exemption, which examines how courts have treated Exemption 3 in the wake of the OPEN FOIA Act of 2009. In sum, the author concludes that the 2009 amendment to Exemption 3 requiring specific reference to the Act was “needless” and should be repealed.

Court opinions issued Apr. 26, 2024

Accuracy in Media v. DOD (D.D.C.) -- holding that FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(A) to categorically withhold certain FBI interview reports and corresponding handwritten notes of interviews conducted with American personnel who were present during the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

Henderson Parks v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons (N.D. Ill.) -- finding that BOP properly withheld certain records pertaining to the death of plaintiff’s former client while imprisoned pursuant to Exemptions 5, 7(C), (7(E), and 7(F); denying plaintiff’s request for in camera review and for “attorney’s eyes-only” access to withheld records.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report 4/29/24

Federal positions closing in the next 10 days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Birmingham, AL, closes 5/1/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 9, Goodfellow AFB, TX, closes 5/2/24 (non-public).

Student Trainee, Dep’t of State, GS 5, Charleston, SC, closes 5/3/24 or first 50 applications.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./Coast Guard, GS 13-14, Washington, DC, closes 5/6/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./Coast Guard, GS 11-13, Washington, DC, closes 5/6/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./Coast Guard, GS 9-12, Washington, DC, closes 5/6/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Def./DIA, GS 13, College Park, MD, closes 5/7/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Envtl. Prot. Agency, GS 13, Philadelphia, PA, closes 5/9/24 (non-public).