DOJ Wants Drug-Related FOIA Practices Suit Thrown Out
By Mike Curley, Law360, Oct. 6, 2022
Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Drug Enforcement Agency are asking a Texas federal court to throw out claims that the DEA has a practice of stonewalling Freedom of Information Act requests, saying the complaint doesn't show that the DEA's response to requests about psilocybin were improper. . . .
Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription).
See article about lawsuit here.
The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy has a vacancy for an attorney-advisor at the GS-12 level to join its administrative appeals staff. The application deadline is October 21, 2022 . See more details here.
Announcing Upcoming FOIA Reporting Deadlines
Dep’t of Justice, Office of Info. Policy, Sept. 28, 2022
As the fiscal year draws to a close, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) looks to the beginning of the FOIA reporting season. Today, OIP announces the deadlines for the submission of agencies' Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Reports, Fiscal Year 2023 Quarterly FOIA Reports, and 2023 Chief FOIA Officer Reports, along with updated resources.
Read more here.
Key FOIA Resources: 2022 Updates to Exemption 3 Statutes
Dep’t of Justice, Office of Info. Policy, Sept. 27, 2022
The Office of Information Policy (OIP) has posted updates to its compilation of Exemption 3 resources, aimed at assisting agencies in their administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and increasing public understanding of the use of Exemption 3. These materials are located on the FOIA Resources page of OIP's site.
The first resource is an updated list of Statutes Found to Qualify Under Exemption 3 of the FOIA. This resource contains the most current listing of federal statutes that federal courts have affirmatively found to qualify as Exemption 3 statutes. The second resource is the Fiscal Year 2021 list of Statutes used in Annual FOIA Reports in conjunction with Exemption 3 of the FOIA. This resource includes a listing of the statutes used by all federal agencies subject to the FOIA, as reported in their FY 2021 Annual FOIA Reports. CSV and PDF versions of this resource provide the citation of each statute used, the type of information protected by the statute, the agencies that cited each statute, and the number of times the statute was cited during the preceding fiscal year. Charts dating back to FY 2010 are also available on OIP's FOIA Resources page.
Read more here.
As FOIA personnel look forward to the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2022, we remind our readers to submit by that date their best guesses as to how many FOIA requests the government received over the past 12 months. We’ll give away gifts cards for the three closest entrees— or play just for the fun of it! See our earlier post for full details.
FOIA Advisory Committee Organizes into Three Subcommittees
By Kimberlee Ried, FOIA Ombudsman, Sept. 19, 2022
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee shared information and heard ideas from previous Committee terms to organize itself into three subcommittees for the 2022-2024 term.
Each subcommittee is led by two co-chairs, one of whom is a federal employee, the other a representative from the requester community. The subcommittees will do much of the work of the Committee, which consists of 20 FOIA experts — 10 government FOIA professionals and 10 requester community representatives appointed by Acting Archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall.
Read more here.
OIP ISSUES GUIDANCE ON FOIA-PRIVACY ACT INTERFACE
DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Sept. 15, 2022
Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) published new guidance on the interface between the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act. This guidance provides practical insight for agency FOIA professionals who process access requests for Privacy Act records. Both the Privacy Act and FOIA are long-established mechanisms for individuals to seek access to government records. The Privacy Act and FOIA can overlap, and it is critical that FOIA professionals understand this interface to make disclosure determinations that provide requesters the full scope of access to which they are entitled under both statutes.
Read more here.
FOIA Ruling Yields New Argument For Challenging Exemption
By John McCarthy, Anuj Vohra, and Dan Wolff, Law360, Sept. 14, 2022
Last month, in Seife v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit became the first appellate court to address a significant question regarding Exemption 4 left unanswered by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2019 FOIA decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media.
Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription).
New 2023 Chief FOIA Officer Report Guidelines Now Available
Dep’t of Justice, Office of Info. Policy, Sept. 14, 2022
The FOIA requires agency Chief FOIA Officers to report to the Attorney General on their performance in implementing the law. Accordingly, since 2009, the Department of Justice has directed agency Chief FOIA Officers to “review all aspects of their agencies’ FOIA administration” and to report annually to the Department of Justice on the efforts undertaken “to improve FOIA operations and facilitate information disclosure at their agencies.” Every year, OIP provides specific guidance to agencies on the content and timing of agency Chief FOIA Officer Reports and today we have issued the guidelines for agency 2023 Chief FOIA Officer Reports.
In their 2023 Chief FOIA Officer Reports, OIP requires agencies to report steps taken in five key areas of FOIA administration highlighted in the Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines:
FOIA Leadership and Applying the Presumption of Openness,
Ensuring Fair and Effective FOIA Administration,
Proactive Disclosures,
Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology; and
Steps Taken to Remove Barriers to Access, Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests, and Reduce Backlogs.
Read more here.
Judge won't force disclosure of records on alleged episode with Hunter Biden's gun
The privacy interests of President Joe Biden's son trump a blogger's Freedom of Information Act suit, the federal court rules.
By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Sept. 13, 2022
A court has rejected a lawsuit seeking to force the public disclosure of federal records about a 2018 episode in which a gun belonging to President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was allegedly thrown in a trash can.
In a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras found that the public interest in the handling of any investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into the episode was “significant,” but that the importance of Hunter Biden’s privacy as a private citizen outweighed the value of releasing any such records to the public.
Read more here.