FOIA News: Reminder of CFO Council meeting

The Chief FOIA Officers Council will meet on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, from 10am to 11:30am EDT. Members of the public may watch the livestream on the National Archives’ YouTube Channel. The agenda is available here.

FOIA News: OGIS issues quarterly report

On April 20, 2023, the Office of Government Information issued its quarterly report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023, which ended on March 31, 2023. Highlights include receiving 1381 requests for assistance and closing 1370 cases.

FOIA News: DOL releases contractors’ demographic data

Feds publish contractors’ workforce demographic data in response to FOIA request

The release contains information on more than 19,000 businesses.

By Ginger Christ, HRDIVE, Apr. 19, 2023

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP) released information Monday on the race and ethnicity, gender and job categories of workers at federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors. 

The data was made available as the result of Freedom of Information Act requests — and a subsequent lawsuit — by the not-for-profit Center for Investigative Reporting news organization for Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 reports from 2016 through 2020 for federal contractors with 50 or more employees and more than one location. 

The OFCCP released information on 19,289 businesses that did not submit objections to having their data shared. Companies were given several opportunities to object and had until March 31 to contest the release of their information. 

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Apr. 17, 2023

Council on American-Islamic Relations v. USCIS (D. Conn.) -- ruling that: (1) government failed to demonstrate that an immigration-related report was “closely held” within the Executive Branch, which precluded withholding it in full pursuant to Exemption 5’s presidential communications privilege; the presidential communications privilege covering the report was not waived by official disclosure; and government satisfied the foreseeable harm standard; (2) government properly withheld portions of the report pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege, as well as Exemptions 1, 3, and 7(E); and (3) State Department properly invoked Exemption 7(E) to withhold information from “State Cable” and “Operational Q&A” documents. and it properly withheld a draft Paperwork Reduction Act-related document pursuant to the attorney-client and deliberative process privileges.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: FBI must process request re: NSBA letter

FBI ordered to release documents about bureau's response to NSBA letter

By Jeremiah Poff, Wash. Exam’r, Apr. 17, 2023

The FBI must comply with a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records about the bureau's response to a 2021 letter from the National School Boards Association that labeled parent protesters domestic terrorists, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled.

In the four-page order, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden said last week that the Department of Justice had "dragged its feet" in responding to a FOIA request filed by the government watchdog group Protect the Public's Trust that sought records from the FBI and other DOJ entities about their response to a September 2021 letter from the NSBA that requested the Biden administration and the DOJ investigate protests and threats against school board members under federal domestic terrorism laws.

Read more here.

See case docket and orders here.

Court opinion issued Apr. 14, 2023

Heritage Found. v. EPA (D.D.C.) -- denying plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in connection with its request for expedited processing of its request for records concerning a freight-train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; reasoning that although one of the plaintiffs appeared to qualify as a person primarily engaged in disseminating information, plaintiffs did not demonstrate that they were likely to succeed on the merits as to whether there was an “urgency to inform the public” or that plaintiffs would suffer “irreparable harm.”

Cunningham v. HUD (E.D. Pa.) -- dismissing with prejudice plaintiff’s FOIA claims against individual employees and for money damages, but permitting plaintiff to amend complaint that failed to allege that he had exhausted his administrative remedies.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: CIA issues updated FOIA regulations

Following a public comment period last year, the Central Intelligence Agency has finalized amendments to its Freedom of Information Act regulations. The amendments, which are set forth in a Federal Register notice scheduled to be published on April 17, 2023. are effective immediately.

FOIA News: FOIA presentation on April 20

On April 20, 2023, the Omaha News Academy of Flatwater Free Press is sponsoring a 90-minute FOIA presentation entitiled “Freedom of Information Act: Challenges, Opportunities and Tips.” The presenters are Sara Gentzler, a reporter for Flatwater Free Press in Omaha, and Carol Zuegner, a journalist and Creighton University professor. Additional details available here.

FOIA News: Attorney concedes error; refiles new suit

MoneyGram Atty Refiles As Plaintiff After CFPB Rips FOIA Suit

By Anna Bongardino, Law360, Apr. 14, 2023

A Vinson & Elkins partner representing MoneyGram in a records request suit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dropped the company's suit and launched a new complaint naming himself as the plaintiff in response to the agency's argument in its dismissal bid that the request was filed by the money services giant's attorney instead of the company itself.

Read more here (access with free subscription).

FOIA News: Coalition of media companies sues for Jan. 6 tapes given to Fox News' Tucker Carlson

Coalition of media companies sues for Jan. 6 tapes given to Fox News' Tucker Carlson

By Megan Lebowitz, NBC News, Apr. 12, 2023

A coalition of nine media companies, including CNN, The New York Times and Politico, have sued for copies of the surveillance videos from the Capitol riot that Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave exclusively to Fox News.

In the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, the media companies demanded that the Justice Department's Office for U.S. Attorneys and the FBI "promptly" provide copies of the footage from Jan. 6, which they characterized as "the most significant assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812."

Read more here.