Below is a summary of the notable FOIA court decisions and news from last month, as well as a look ahead to FOIA events in November.

Court decisions

We identified and posted 10 decisions in October, a sizeable decrease from the 38 decisions issued in September. A pair of rulings denying preliminary injunctions sought by Heritage Foundation might have brought smiles to agency FOIA professionals deluged by requests from the conservative organization’s so-called “oversight” project. See Heritage Found. v. Dep’t of State (D.D.C. Oct. 29, 2024); Howell v. DHS (D.D.C. Oct. 25. 2024) (remarking that Heritage’s “premature attempt to return to this Court with a highly similar request borders on the vexatious”).

Top News

On October 15, 2024, OIP released its assessment and summary of agency Chief FOIA Officer Reports for FY 2024.

ProPublica reported on October 1, 2024, that the Heritage Foundation was flooding federal agencies with FOIA requests “in an apparent attempt to find employees a potential Trump administration would want to purge.”

November calendar

November 4, 2023: D.C. Circuit argument in Proj. for Privacy & Surveillance Accountability v. DOJ

November 6, 2024: Introduction to the Freedom of Information Act Training (federal employees)

November 7, 2024: Chief FOIA Officers Meeting

November 12, 2024: Deadline for agencies to submit Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Report to OIP

November 13, 2024: Litigation Seminar (federal employees)