FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee to meet on Dec. 5th

The federal FOIA Advisory Committee will hold its third meeting of the 2024-2026 term on December 5, 2024, according to a Federal Register notice issued today by the Office of Government Information Services. The meeting will be virtual and is open to the public. Meeting materials will be posted here.

FOIA News: DC Circuit to hear argument in Glomar case

On Monday, November 4, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument in Project for Privacy & Surveillance Accountability, Inc. v. Department of Justice (No. 22-5303).

PPSA seeks records from six agencies about the possible surveillance of 48 Members of Congress who serve or served on intelligence oversight committees. Those agencies have refused to confirm or deny the existence of responsive records, however, and a lower court ruled that the government’s Glomar responses were appropriate.

Livestream audio will be available here.

FOIA News: Feds flooded with requests for controversial emails

Conservative outfits are scouring feds’ emails

Right-leaning groups have filed tens of thousands of information requests as Donald Trump plans a scorched-earth reign over civil servants.

By Robin Bravender, E&E News, Oct. 30, 2024

As former President Donald Trump vows to “shatter the deep state” and make it easier to fire “rogue bureaucrats,” some of his former aides and conservative think tanks have been collecting federal officials’ internal emails.

The expansive records requests — including some that target career civil servants’ communications — are causing concern among government employees and their allies who fear that an incoming Trump administration might try to use the information they obtain to purge career workers from the federal government.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DOJ soliciting nominations for FOIA awards

OIP Now Accepting Nominations for the 2025 Sunshine Week FOIA Awards

By DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Oct. 30, 2024

The Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy (OIP) is pleased to announce that nominations are open for the 2025 Sunshine Week FOIA Awards, recognizing the contributions of FOIA professionals from around the government.  Each year, the number of nominations submitted to OIP to recognize the exceptional achievements of federal FOIA employees grows.  As such, OIP is opening the nomination window earlier this year than in previous years to allow more time for review of submissions.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Another FOIA discussion on Nov. 1st

On November 1, 2024, the Yale Law School will host a panel discussion entitled “Algorithmic Sunshine,” which will consider “how some cutting-edge technologies can make transparency and accountability more efficient and effective.” Speakers include Abdi Aidid (Yale), Adam Marshall (Reporters Committee of Freedom of the Press), Michael Morisy (MuckRock), Bobak Talebian (Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy), and Ariana Tobin (Pro Publica). The discussion is part of the law school’s two-day Access & Accountability 2024 conference.

We previously reported that George Washington University’s law school will host a day-long FOIA program on November 1, 2024, to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1974 FOIA amendments.

FOIA News: Contractors’ demographic data requested

Federal Contractor EEO-1 Demographic Data Set to be Released Again

By Evan Szarenski & Joanna Colosimo, DCI Consulting, Oct. 28, 2024

Tomorrow, October 29, 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is scheduled to publish a Notice in the Federal Register regarding two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for 2021 Type 2 Consolidated Employer Information Reports (EEO-1 Reports) filed by federal contractors.​ The requests were made by the University of Utah and a non-profit organization named "As You Sow."​  

OFCCP believes the requested information may be protected under FOIA Exemption 4, which covers confidential commercial information, but has not yet made a determination. 

​The notice informs federal contractors who filed these reports in 2021 that they have 40 days from the publication date of the Notice to submit objections to the disclosure of their information.​  

Read more here.

FOIA News: Heritage asks court to reconsider Prince Harry case

Think Tank Wants Judge To Redo Prince Harry Records Review

By Britain Eakin, Law360, Oct. 23, 2024

Conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation asked a D. C. federal judge to reconsider his denial of access to Prince Harry's visa records, saying the judge didn't follow the proper process for reviewing case records privately.

Following a hearing earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols ordered the federal government to submit declarations explaining what harm would come from public disclosure of Prince Harry’s immigration records, which the Heritage Foundation sought through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Judge Nichols reviewed the declarations privately, without the Heritage Foundation being able to see them, and determined that Prince Harry’s immigration records were rightfully withheld to protect his privacy. The Heritage Foundation contends the judge was required by D.C. Circuit precedent to review all documents responsive to its FOIA request first, but said in a request for reconsideration on Tuesday that didn’t happen here.

Read more here (accessible with free trial).

FOIA News: Nonprofits end dispute with ICE over alleged sterilization records

ICE, Nonprofits End FOIA Row Over Alleged Sterilization Docs

By Gina Kim, Law360, Oct. 23, 2024

Three nonprofits dismissed their Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeking records related to unnecessary and "nonconsensual" gynecological procedures performed on immigrant detainees at an ICE detention center in Georgia, according to a notice filed Wednesday in D.C. federal court.

* * *
Wednesday’s notice provided to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly marks the end of a four-year litigation commenced in 2020 by nonprofits Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, which alleged that ICE ignored their requests seeking records about “forced unnecessary” medical procedures, including gynecological procedures, allegedly carried at Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilia, Georgia.

Read more here (accessible with free trial).

FOIA News: Can you hear me now?

Cell Phone Dangers Prompt FOIA Requests

FOIAengine: Questions from Siri & Glimstad Point to Possible Litigation

By David Nayer, Law St. Media, Oct. 23, 2024

Does radiation from cell phones and cell towers affect human health?  There has long been controversy around this question, which the federal government has tried to put to rest by issuing findings that there is no clear evidence of a health impact and by refuting earlier studies that found that biological changes associated with radiofrequency radiation. But, as recent Freedom of Information Act requests demonstrate, the controversy isn’t going away. 

According to PoliScio Analytics’ competitive-intelligence database FOIAengine, which tracks FOIA requests in as close to real-time as their availability allows, 20 cell phone and cell tower radiation requests have been submitted to the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Health since January of 2021.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DC Circuit to hear argument in FOIA "clawback" case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument in Human Rights Defense Center v. U.S. Park Police (No. 23-5236) on October 24, 2024. The issues on appeal are (1) whether the agency proper applied Exemption 6 to withhold names of federal officers whose behavior gave rise to federal tort claims settled by the agency, and (2) whether a federal court has the inherent authority to order the “claw back” of records an agency argues were inadvertently disclosed.

The district court ruled in the government’s favor.

Livestream audio is available here.

(NB: FOIA Advisor’s Ryan Mulvey authored an amicus brief in support of Appellant HRDC, which he filed on behalf of his employer, Americans for Prosperity Foundation.)