Below is our roundup of FOIA court decisions and FOIA news from February 2024, as well as a peek ahead to March.

Court decisions:

We posted 16 decisions issued in February. Of note, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held in Protect the Public’s Trust v. IRS that plaintiff was eligible for attorney’s fees even though it never received responsive documents. The court reasoned that the IRS thrice refused to search for requested record and the agency changed its position only after being sued and ordered to file a dispositive motion. In AMA Sys. v. FDA, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled that because all information protected under Exemption 4 is barred from disclosure under the Trade Secrets Act, the foreseeable harm test was inapplicable. This appears to be the first court to accept that argument, and it also appears to be inconsistent with DOJ/OIP’s 2023 guidance to agencies.

On February 16, FOIA Advisor published its list of notable court decisions issued in calendar year 2023.

News:

We were saddened to learn of the death of Dan Metcalfe, co-founder of DOJ/OIP.

Dozens of agencies posted their annual FOIA reports ahead of the March 1st posting deadline. Reports posted by DOJ, DOD, NARA, and HHS showed sizable increases in the volume of requests received. FOIA Advisor will post a summary of the overall data as soon as DOJ makes it available via FOIA.gov.

March lookahead:

March 5, 2024: FOIA Advisory Committee meeting.

March 11, 2024: Agencies are required to post their 2024 Chief FOIA Officer Reports online.

Sunshine Week is March 10 to March 16, 2024. Several federal agencies will host special events:

• March 11, 2024: Dep’t of Justice, annual Sunshine Week celebration, 10am-noon.

• March 13, 2024: Dep’t of Commerce, “The Power of Open Government,” 9am-1:30pm.

• March 14, 2024: Nat’l Archives & Records Admin., “Artificial Intelligence: The Intersection of Public Access and Open Government,” 1pm.