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