FOIA News: OGIS officially announces first two advisory committee meetings

The Office of Government Information Services has announced that the federal FOIA Advisory Committee for the 2024-2026 term will hold its first two meetings on Monday, September 9, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT, and Friday, September 13, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT. The first meeting will be held in person; the second will be virtual only. See more details in the Federal Register notice.

FOIA News: FOIA requests do not confer standing in constitutional case against CPSC, opines professor

Supreme Court Should Not Review Phony Separation of Powers Case

By Alan B. Morrison, Regulatory Rev., Aug. 19, 2024

At the U.S. Supreme Court’s September conference, it will be asked, in Consumers’ Research v. Consumer Product Safety Commission, to grant review and decide an important separation of powers question: whether the statutory provision that protects the five Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) commissioners from being removed from office at-will by the President, except for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, is constitutional. However, because the petitioners lack standing, the Court should deny review and await a case in which the issue is properly presented.

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To begin, the petitioners, including Consumers’ Research, are not manufacturers or sellers of a product that the CPSC regulates; they are not subject to any CPSC regulations; and they have not had any enforcement actions brought against them. They also do not allege that the CPSC has, for example, failed to regulate toys such that their children are placed in danger. Instead, they are two educational organizations that often submit requests for CPSC records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and they did so here.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Aug. 15, 2024

Aug. 15, 2024

Huddleston v. FBI (E.D. Tex.) -- ruling that FBI could not categorically withhold hundreds of thousands of laptop records of Seth Rich pursuant to Exemption 7(A) without first conducting a document-by document review, and ordering agency to produce Vaughn Indices or to file a summary judgment motion by February 7, 2025.

Huddleston v. FBI (E.D. Tex.) -- denying plaintiff’s “corrected” summary judgment motion and concluding that: (1) plaintiff’s use of news articles as summary judgment evidence was inappropriate under the Federal Rules of Evidence; (2) adequacy of FBI’s search was not undermined by plaintiff’s speculation about the existence of unproduced records; and (3) plaintiff was not entitled to discovery regarding FBI’s search because he failed to establish agency acted in bad faith.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Aug. 19, 2024

Federal positions closing in the next 10 days:

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Def./OSD, GS 13, Alexandria, VA, closes 8/19/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Def./ESD, GS 9-12, Alexandria, VA, closes 8/19/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 11-12, Johnson City, TN, closes 8/19/24 (agency only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Health & Human Serv./HRSA, GS 12, Rockville, MD, closes 8/21/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Cleveland, OH, closes 8/21/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/IRS, GS 14, multiple locations, closes 8/22/24 (non-public).

Att’y-Advisor, Envtl. Prot. Agency, GS 11-12, Wash., DC, closes 8/23/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Def./DCSA, GG 12, Fort Meade, MD, closes 8/26/24 (or 100 applications) (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VBA, GS 13, Overland, MO, closes 8/26/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/IRS, GS 7-11, multiple locations, closes 8/26/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GG 13, Fort Meade, MD, closes 8/28/24 (non-public).

FOIA News: Archivist announces new federal FOIA Advisory Committee members

Archivist of the United States Appoints 2024–2026 FOIA Advisory Committee Members

Nat’l Archives & Records Admin., Press Release, Aug. 15, 2024

Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan announced the appointment of 20 individuals to the National Archives and Records Administration’s 2024–2026 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee. The individuals named will serve a two-year term and will begin meeting in September 2024.

The FOIA Advisory Committee consists of no more than 20 individuals who are all FOIA experts from both inside and outside of government. Members of the FOIA Advisory Committee foster dialogue between the administration and the requester community, and develop recommendations for improving FOIA administration and proactive disclosures. Dr. Shogan has appointed the following individuals: 

Read more here.

Congratulations to FOIA Advisor’s Ryan Mulvey on his appointment.

Court opinion issued Aug. 13, 2024

Pomares v. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs (9th Cir.) -- affirming in part and reversing in part district court’s decision regarding the agency’s search for and processing of records concerning possible misconduct investigated by agency’s Inspector General; finding that: (1) the VA performed a reasonable search for responsive records, rejecting plaintiff’s argument that FOIA prohibits manual review of records for responsiveness; (2) the VA properly relied on Exemption 4 to withhold records obtained from consulting company pursuant to IG’s subpoena, rejecting plaintiff’s objections to the form of company’s objection letter and its incorporation by reference in agency’s Vaughn Index; (3) agency properly redacted names and contact information of employees and third parties under Exemption 6, except for names of third parties who lobbied Congress or the VA; and (4) agency failed to sufficiently explain how Exemption 7(E) applied to withheld interview transcripts generated by agency’s IG investigation.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

FOIA News: This and that

• For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal FOIA Advisory Committee will meet in person for the opening meeting of the 2024-2026 term on September 9, 2024. Stay tuned for an announcement on new Committee members.

• Thirty-five years ago, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Law and Policy (the forerunner of OIP) published the first volume of the FOIA Update, which later became the FOIA Post.

• Law360 has published an uncritical article about efforts to expand the FOIA to the judiciary.

• An e-discovery firm discussed several FOIA responses that went “FUBAR.” [Yours truly filed one of the cited requests on behalf of America Rising]

• The FBI has posted another installment of records concerning hijacker D.B. Cooper.

• The Government Attic has posted emails of former EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler from July 2018, immediately after Scott Pruitt resigned.

Court opinion issued Aug. 9, 2024

Human Rights Def. Ctr. v. DOJ (W.D. Wash.) -- denying government’s motion to amend court’s prior judgment that the Drug Enforcement Administration improperly relied on Exemption 6 to withhold names of alleged agency tortfeasors from settlement claims records; finding that DEA did not present new evidence or show that the court’s analysis of the private and public interest at stake resulted in “manifest injustice.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

FOIA News: U.S. Marshals settles suit for SCOTUS travel records

DOJ, Watchdog Agree To End Dispute Over Justices' Travel Docs

By Rose Krebs, Law 360, Aug. 9, 2024

The U.S. Department of Justice and judicial watchdog group Fix the Court said in a Friday filing that they have agreed to dismiss a complaint accusing the department of failing to deliver on requests for reports about travel by U.S. Supreme Court justices.

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In January 2023, Fix the Court filed a complaint saying that the U.S. Marshals Service had not fully responded to a Freedom of Information Act request for marshals' "special assignment" reports. Such reports are filed for deputy marshals who provide on-request security coverage for justices while they travel.

Fix the Court put a request in for "reports prepared for travel taken and events attended by U.S. Supreme Court justices in which they were accompanied by USMS personnel between January 1, 2018, and September 30, 2022," according to the complaint.

Read more here (accessible with free trial).

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Aug. 12, 2024

Federal positions closing in the next 10 days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Education, GS 12-13, Wash., DC, closes 8/12/24 (or 50 applications) (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Envtl. Prot. Agency, GS 13, Lenexa, KS, closes 8/12/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Housing & Urban Dev./IG, GS 12-13, multiple locations, closes 8/12/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Air Force, GS 9, Langley AFB, VA, closes 8/12/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Housing & Urban Dev., GS 12-13, multiple locations, closes 8/13/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Labor/MSHA, GS 13, Arlington, VA, closes 8/14/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GS 9, Fort Meade, MD, closes 8/15/24 (non-public).

Records Management Assistant (FOIA/PA), Dep’t of the Army, GS 7 Fort Belvoir, VA, closes 8/15/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 9, Las Vegas, NV, closes 8/16/24 (internal agency).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 9, Las Vegas, NV, closes 8/16/24 (or 50 applications) (internal agency).

Supv. Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, GS 14, Wash., DC, closes 8/16/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Treasury/IRS, GS 14, multiple locations, closes 8/22/24 (non-public).

Federal positions closing on or after Aug. 23, 2024

Att’y-Advisor, Envtl. Prot. Agency, GS 11-12, Wash., DC, closes 8/23/24.