Court opinion issued Aug. 25, 2023

Found. for Gov't Accountability v. DOJ (M.D. Fla.) -- in case concerning DOJ’s strategic plan to promote voter registration and participation in response to Executive Order 14019, determining that: (1) DOJ properly withheld some, but not all, disputed emails pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege; and (2) DOJ improperly relied on the deliberative process privilege to withhold the final version of DOJ’s strategic plan because it was not pre-decisional; and (3) ordering in camera review of DOJ’s strategic plan to evaluate DOJ’s presidential communications claim, noting that DOJ’s sworn statements “lack sufficient detail and are contradicted by the record evidence.”

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

FOIA News: NARA to use artificial intelligence for FOIA requests

National Archives discloses planned AI uses for record management

The records agency wants to use AI systems for auto filling metadata and responding to FOIAs, according to an inventory of the technology.

By Madison Alder & Rebecca Heilweil, FedScoop, Aug. 25, 2023

The National Archives and Records Administration revealed that it plans to use several forms of AI to help manage its massive trove of records in an inventory published earlier this month.

In its 2023 AI use case inventory, the agency charged with managing U.S. government documents disclosed it wants to use an AI-based system to autofill metadata for its archival documents. Similar to some other agencies, the National Archives also disclosed its interest in using the technology to help respond to FOIA requests.

While NARA shared these planned applications, it did not include any current, operational use cases of AI.

Read more here.

FOIA News: OIP issues guidance on SOPs

On the last Friday of August, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Privacy issued guidance on “Standard Operating Procedures for FOIA Offices.”

Move over best-selling beach books.

Court opinion issued Aug. 24, 2023

Thompson v. DOJ (W.D.N.C.) -- denying government’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claim that the Environmental & Natural Resources Division had adopted a pattern or practice of delaying responses to plaintiff’s FOIA requests; rejecting government’s argument that because all of plaintiff’s requests had received a response, plaintiff’s pattern-or practice claim was moot; noting government’s delays in responding to plaintiff’s requests and to other FOIA requesters, as indicated in DOJ’s annual FOIA reports.

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

FOIA News: Army Athletics denies being a federal agency, but agrees to fulfill FOIA request following lawsuit

ARMY ATHLETICS TURNS OVER FINANCIAL RECORDS FOLLOWING FOIA SUIT

By Daniel Limit & Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico, Aug. 24, 2023

Army West Point Athletic Association, the legal entity that administers the military academy’s Division I sports programs, has begun turning over the first batch of what could eventually be thousands of pages of financial and contractual records that it has previously refused to make public.

The academy’s intercollegiate sports arm had long snubbed Freedom of Information Act requests, claiming it is not subject to federal disclosure laws.

Army’s change in position follows a Sportico reporter’s FOIA lawsuit in February against West Point and the AWPAA, after the entities denied requests for numerous categories of athletic department records including NCAA revenue and expense reports, employee contracts and the athletic association’s agreements with third parties like Learfield and Nike.

Read more here.

FOIA News: ASAP workshop in Minneapolis

The American Society for Access Professionals will host a FOIA/Privacy Act workshop in Minneapolis from September 6 to September 8, 2023. Program and registration information is available here. The registration deadline is August 31, 2023.

FOIA News: Federal FOIA Advisory Committee to meet September 7th

The federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee will meet remotely for the sixth time in its 2022-2024 term on September 7, 2023, from 10am to 1pm, as announced in a notice in today’s Federal Register. The purpose of the meeting will be “to hear about efforts at the State Department to use machine learning for document searches and reviews, and to hear reports from each of the three subcommittees: Implementation, Modernization, and Resources.”

Watch the meeting on the National Archives YouTube channel or register to attend via Webex. Meeting material will be posted here.

FOIA News: Skip the FOIA request

Faster than FOIA: Public records you can find online

Nat’l Press Club

Need to verify the rank of a dead veteran? Wondering about access to New York criminal records? Trying to find the maiden name of a twice-married woman? For journalists, knowing where to look – without waiting on a public information request response – is key. 

Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute to learn from award-winning investigator Caryn Baird, who will present a practical working model of public records research based on her years of experience at the Tampa Bay Times

* * *

Registration is open for this virtual program, which will take place on Friday, Sept. 15, at 11:30 a.m. ET over Zoom.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Aug. 18, 2023

Watkins Law & Advocacy v. DOJ (D.C. Cir.) -- (1) affirming district’s decision that FBI and DOJ performed adequate searches for records pertaining to veterans prohibited from purchasing firearms due to mental defects, and rejecting appellant’s argument that DOJ should have expanded its search from the Attorney General’s Office to the Office of Legislative Affairs based on results of AG’s searches; and (2) vacating and remanding district court’s decision that Department of Veterans Affairs properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process and attorney-client privileges, because VA’s declaration described the documents at a “very high level of generality” and stated only “in conclusory fashion” that documents documents fell within those privileges.

Brown v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- finding that FBI performed adequate search for witness interviews pertaining to the 2015 San Bernardino attack and that it properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 1, 3, 7(C), 7(D), and 7(E).

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

Court opinion issued Aug. 17, 2023

Smartflash, LCC v. USPTO (D.D.C.) -- dismissing complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because underlying FOIA requests were not submitted by plaintiff, but by its attorney, who failed to clearly indicate that the requests were submitted on behalf of his client; rejecting attorney’s assignment of his FOIA rights to plaintiff for jurisdictional purposes because it occurred eight months after the lawsuit was filed.

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