FOIA News: DOJ announces agency reporting deadlines

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy has announced agency deadlines for the submission of Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Reports, Fiscal Year 2025 Quarterly FOIA Reports, and 2025 Chief FOIA Officer Reports. Read more here.

FOIA News: D.C. Circuit to hear FOIA argument on 10/4/24

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument in Georgia v. DOJ, No. 20-5083, on Friday, October 4, 2024. The issue on appeal is whether Exemption 5’s consultant corollary doctrine protects certain communications between DOJ and outside parties in lawsuits where plaintiffs entered into a common interest agreement with DOJ.

The district court ruled against the government.

Livestream audio is available here.

FOIA News: Heritage Foundation deluging agencies with requests on taxpayers' dime

Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests

The conservative think tank has filed thousands of public-information requests, clogging the pipeline at federal agencies in an apparent attempt to find employees a potential Trump administration would want to purge.

By Sharon Lerner and Andy Kroll, ProPublica, Oct. 1, 2024

Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and messages sent by individual government workers that mention, among other things, “climate equity,” “voting” or “SOGIE,” an acronym for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

The Heritage team filed these requests even as the think tank’s Project 2025 was promoting a controversial plan to remove job protections for tens of thousands of career civil servants so they could be identified and fired if Donald Trump wins the presidential election.

See more here.

FOIA News: NIH's "FOIA Lady" subpoenaed by House Oversight’s pandemic subcommittee

BREAKING: “FOIA Lady” Plans to Plead the Fifth After Wenstrup Announces Subpoena for Her Testimony

Ms. Margaret Moore, a lead staffer in NIH’s FOIA office, allegedly taught NIAID officials how to “make emails disappear”

Press Release, U.S. House of Rep., Comm. on Oversight & Accountability, Sept. 30, 2024

WASHINGTON — Today, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) announced a subpoena to compel Ms. Margaret Moore — known infamously as the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) “FOIA Lady” — to appear for a deposition on October 4, 2024. Documents suggest that Ms. Moore was involved in a conspiracy to teach National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) officials how to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and avoid public transparency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Moore’s counsel has informed the Select Subcommittee that his client plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination during the deposition on Friday.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DOJ pays fees after wining Exemption 4 case

DOJ Will Pay Attorneys' Fees in Lethal Injection FOIA Dispute

By Daniel Seiden, Bloomberg Law, Sept. 26, 2024

The US Department of Justice will pay $65,266 in attorneys’ fees and expenses to settle a Freedom of Information Act dispute with a non-profit organization concerning the government’s supply of pentobarbital used in lethal injections, a federal district court filing said.

This settlement with Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington will release the government from any future expenses claimed in this case, filed by the organization at the US District Court for the District of Columbia in 2019, the Wednesday notice of settlement said.

Read more here (subscription required).

See district court’s 2024 decision here.

FOIA News: OGIS issues results of FOIA compliance survey

The Office of Government Information Services has released an analysis of agency FOIA compliance based on four survey questions that were included in NARA’s annual records management self-assessment for 2023. Here were the key results:

• The 2023 data reflect a 5-percentage point increase in agency FOIA programs reporting minimal or no pandemic-related impact to the FOIA backlog (84 percent) over 2022 (79 percent). The number of agencies reporting a continuing moderate or significant negative impact to the backlog caused by the pandemic dropped 2-percentage points from 2022 to 16 percent.

• A majority of agencies (59 percent) post records only on an ad-hoc basis (“as needed”) when no FOIA request has been filed.

• Agencies continue to struggle with providing FOIA  information, context, and guidance to requesters on their FOIA websites.

• Almost half (48 percent) of respondents reported including language covering FOIA obligations in contracts for services and products.

FOIA News: OGIS revisits "still interested" letters

OGIS Remains Interested in “Still Interested” Letters

By Kimberlee Ried, The FOIA Ombudsman, Sept. 19, 2024

As the federal government approaches the end of fiscal year 2024 in September, we recognize that many federal agencies are aiming to close old FOIA requests and reduce their FOIA backlogs. Some are sending requesters “still interested” letters to ensure that the requester still seeks the requested records. The Office of Information Policy (OIP) guidance on the issue advises agencies about “being mindful” in regard to the timelines for requesters to respond to agencies and indicate their level of interest. OIP updated this guidance in 2021 and included a series of procedures that agencies should use when sending “still interested” letters.

Read more here.

FOIA News: This and that

• On September 13, 2023, the federal FOIA Advisory Commitee for the 2024-2026 term held its second meeting of the week. See meeting materials here.

• On September 23, 2024, “Management Concepts” will begin a three-day FOIA and Privacy Act course.

• Have complaints about television’s football coverage? Join the club. The Government Attic has posted complaints filed with the FCC here.

• The FBI has recently posted records concerning Larry Flynt, George (Gordon) Liddy, and the Knight of Malta in The Vault.

FOIA News: OIP updates list of Exemption 3 statutes

Key FOIA Resources: 2024 Updates to Exemption 3 Statute Resources

DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Sept. 12, 2024

The Office of Information Policy (OIP) has posted updates to its compilation of Exemption 3 resources, intended to assist agencies in their administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and to increase public understanding of the use of Exemption 3.  These materials are located on the FOIA Resources page of OIP's site. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA suit for Prince Harry’s visa records is over; orders sealed

Prince Harry Visa Drugs Case Closed After Secret Ruling

By Jack Royston, Newsweek, Sept. 10, 2024

A lawsuit brought over Prince Harry's visa status by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation has been terminated, Newsweek can reveal.

The Duke of Sussex wrote in his memoir, Spare, how he had taken drugs including cocaine, marijuana and magic mushrooms. Heritage filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security demanding the publication of Harry's visa documents, arguing that his use of narcotics should have barred him from living and working in America.

However, court records show that the case was terminated on September 9, when several sealed orders were filed in the case, heard in Washington D.C. before Judge Carl J. Nichols.

Read more here.