FOIA News: Democrat seeks info on CDC’s FOIA office

House oversight committee demands answers on gutting of CDC public records office

By Sydney Lupkin, NPR, Apr. 24, 2025

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability wants answers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about why its public records staff was gutted on April 1, when thousands of federal health agency workers were fired.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, sent a letter to CDC's acting director Dr. Susan Monarez on Thursday, expressing "concern" about the 22 staffers who handled and fulfilled public records requests being placed on administrative leave until their jobs are eliminated on June 2. Their work has been mandated by Congress since the 1960s under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Lawsuit seeks to extend FOIA to judiciary

Conservative Legal Group Sues For Federal Judiciary Records

By Emily Sawicki, Law360, Apr. 24, 2025

In its latest federal suit, the Washington-based conservative litigation group America First Legal Foundation has brought a claim against Chief U.S. Justice John Roberts, alleging that records held by the Judicial Conference must be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

The nonprofit legal group, which was founded by longtime Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller and is staffed by the president's allies, launched its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, alleging that Justice Roberts and Robert J. Conrad, director of the Administrative office of the U.S. Courts, are unlawfully denying it access to public records held by the courts.

Read more here (accessible with free subscription).

See amended complaint here.

Court opinion issued Apr. 22, 2025

Am. Oversight v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- granting government’s summary judgment motion and holding that pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in GTE Sylvania, Inc. v. Consumers Union of U.S., Inc., DOJ properly withheld Volume Two of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 2025 investigatory report because another federal district court has barred its disclosure; rejecting plaintiff’s arguments that the government was required to identify statutory exemptions; that DOJ’s support for the injunction rendered GTE Sylvania inapplicable; and that the court that issued the injunction lacked jurisdiction to maintain it.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: HHS to post more FOIA docs, asserts Sec’y

‘Total Transparency’: RFK Jr. Pledges To Restore HHS Public Records Requests Slowed By DOGE

By Emily Kopp, Daily Caller News Found., April 23, 2025

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged at a press conference Tuesday to restore the production of federal records.

Those records, requested by members of the public, were said to be slowed by Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts.

Kennedy also said he will create a new website for HHS documents.

Kennedy said he would seek to publish a greater number of documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — a 1967 law that allows members of the public to obtain government records with some limited exceptions such as information pertaining to national security and trade secrets. The new landing page could include records requested and released previously but unavailable on the HHS website.

HHS currently hosts an online reading room for some records, but it does not serve as a repository of every document released under a FOIA request.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Apr. 21, 2025

Lenahan v. HHS (N.D. Cal.) -- ruling that: (1) agency performed adequate search for various contractual records pertaining to agency’s purchase of antibiotics for the Strategic National Stockpile; (2) agency properly relied on Exemption 3 in conjunction with 41 U.S.C. § 4702(b) to redact successful bidder’s proposal, which had not been incorporated into the awarded contract; and (3) agency’s offer to provide an informal Vaughn Index to plaintiff during the meet-and-confer process was insufficient to justify remaining withholdings under Exemptions 3 and 5.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: Hall of Fame under new management

Brechner FOI Project to Lead National FOIA Hall of Fame

Univ. of Florida, Apr. 21, 2025

The National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame is back, under the leadership of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

The Hall of Fame was created in 1996 by the First Amendment Center, an operating program of Freedom Forum, with the assistance of the Society of Professional Journalists. The 1996 launch coincided with the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Every five years, through 2016, a class of new individuals was inducted into the hall in recognition of their impact and dedication to government transparency in the United States.

Read more here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report April 21, 2025

The number of vacant FOIA positions in the federal government has been significantly reduced by the hiring freeze that took effect on January 20, 2025, and which recently was extended through July 15, 2025. Below are the limited vacancies that are exempt from the freeze.

• Ass’t FOIA Officer, Dep’t of the Treasury/OCC, NB 5, Wash., DC, closes 4/29/25 (internal only).

Court opinion issued Apr. 17, 2025

Am. Wild Horse Campaign v. U.S Bureau pf Land Mgmt. (D.D.C.) -- concluding that BLM’s search for records relating to the Rock Springs Grazing Association was adequate “in interpreting plaintiff’s FOIA requests, the locations to be searched, search terms and methods used (with one exception), and the selection of custodians (with one exception).”

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.

FOIA News: DOJ urged to defend GAO's immunity from FOIA

Top Democrats Urge DOJ To Defend GAO's Legislative Status

By Courtney Bublé, Law360, Apr. 17, 2025

Three top House Democrats are looking for assurances from the U.S. Department of Justice that it will "zealously defend" a government watchdog in upcoming litigation by a conservative legal organization that challenges its status in the government.

The America First Legal Foundation, which was founded by Stephen Miller, a current and former top Trump official, last month sued the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent agency that works for Congress. While the lawsuit is based on a Freedom of Information Act request, there is a larger goal regarding the president's ability to remove executive officials. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the District of Columbia ordered the GAO to respond to the complaint by May 16.

Despite the GAO being in the legislative branch, the DOJ represents it in litigation, so the lawmakers asked for written confirmation by April 23 that the DOJ is committed to "vigorously" representing it. 

Read more here (free access with business email registration).

See case material here.

FOIA News: White House extends hiring freeze

President Trump signed a memorandum on Thursday that extends the three-month federal hiring freeze, which began on Inauguration Day and was set to expire this Sunday, through July t5, 2025.

See a related article from FedSmith here.