Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Oct. 28, 2024

Federal positions closing in the next ten days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 9-11, Wash., DC, closes 10/28/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Columbus, OH, closes 10/30/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, West Haven, CT, closes 10/31/24 (agency only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Long Beach, CA, closes 10/31/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Def./DLA, GS 13, multiple locations, closes 11/3/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Salt Lake City, UT, closes 11/4/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Salt Lake City, UT, closes 11/4/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Albany, NY, closes 11/4/24 (agency only).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Army, GS 12, Stuttgart, Germany, closes 11/5/24 (non-public).

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

Federal positions closing on or after Nov. 8, 2024

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Interior/NIGC, GG 12, remote, closes 11/8/24.

Attorney Advisor, Dep’t of Transportation/PHMSA, GS 14, Wash., DC, closes 11/25/14.

FOIA News: Heritage asks court to reconsider Prince Harry case

Think Tank Wants Judge To Redo Prince Harry Records Review

By Britain Eakin, Law360, Oct. 23, 2024

Conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation asked a D. C. federal judge to reconsider his denial of access to Prince Harry's visa records, saying the judge didn't follow the proper process for reviewing case records privately.

Following a hearing earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols ordered the federal government to submit declarations explaining what harm would come from public disclosure of Prince Harry’s immigration records, which the Heritage Foundation sought through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Judge Nichols reviewed the declarations privately, without the Heritage Foundation being able to see them, and determined that Prince Harry’s immigration records were rightfully withheld to protect his privacy. The Heritage Foundation contends the judge was required by D.C. Circuit precedent to review all documents responsive to its FOIA request first, but said in a request for reconsideration on Tuesday that didn’t happen here.

Read more here (accessible with free trial).

FOIA News: Nonprofits end dispute with ICE over alleged sterilization records

ICE, Nonprofits End FOIA Row Over Alleged Sterilization Docs

By Gina Kim, Law360, Oct. 23, 2024

Three nonprofits dismissed their Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeking records related to unnecessary and "nonconsensual" gynecological procedures performed on immigrant detainees at an ICE detention center in Georgia, according to a notice filed Wednesday in D.C. federal court.

* * *
Wednesday’s notice provided to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly marks the end of a four-year litigation commenced in 2020 by nonprofits Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, which alleged that ICE ignored their requests seeking records about “forced unnecessary” medical procedures, including gynecological procedures, allegedly carried at Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilia, Georgia.

Read more here (accessible with free trial).

FOIA News: Can you hear me now?

Cell Phone Dangers Prompt FOIA Requests

FOIAengine: Questions from Siri & Glimstad Point to Possible Litigation

By David Nayer, Law St. Media, Oct. 23, 2024

Does radiation from cell phones and cell towers affect human health?  There has long been controversy around this question, which the federal government has tried to put to rest by issuing findings that there is no clear evidence of a health impact and by refuting earlier studies that found that biological changes associated with radiofrequency radiation. But, as recent Freedom of Information Act requests demonstrate, the controversy isn’t going away. 

According to PoliScio Analytics’ competitive-intelligence database FOIAengine, which tracks FOIA requests in as close to real-time as their availability allows, 20 cell phone and cell tower radiation requests have been submitted to the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Health since January of 2021.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DC Circuit to hear argument in FOIA "clawback" case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument in Human Rights Defense Center v. U.S. Park Police (No. 23-5236) on October 24, 2024. The issues on appeal are (1) whether the agency proper applied Exemption 6 to withhold names of federal officers whose behavior gave rise to federal tort claims settled by the agency, and (2) whether a federal court has the inherent authority to order the “claw back” of records an agency argues were inadvertently disclosed.

The district court ruled in the government’s favor.

Livestream audio is available here.

(NB: FOIA Advisor’s Ryan Mulvey authored an amicus brief in support of Appellant HRDC, which he filed on behalf of his employer, Americans for Prosperity Foundation.)

FOIA News: Army must expedite FOIA request about Trump’s visit to Arlington Cemetery

Judge orders Pentagon to release records of Trump controversial Arlington Cemetery visit

By Josh Meyer, USA Today, Oct. 22, 2024

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Army officials to release internal records regarding former President Donald Trump’s controversial August visit to Arlington National Cemetery by the end of the week.

Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the request Monday in response to a lawsuit brought by American Oversight, a non-partisan group dedicated to getting the government to release records. He signed the order Tuesday, the group said.

American Oversight said it sued for the rapid release of military records, including any incident reports from the Aug. 26 incident, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Read more here.

FOIA News: SCOTUS declines to hear challenge to CPSC’s commissioners initiated via FOIA

Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Let President Fire Agency Leaders

By Greg Stohr, BNN Bloomberg, Oct. 21, 2024

The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal that sought to give the president control over agencies that have long operated independently, potentially including the Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission.

The appeal, pressed by two research organizations in a case involving the Consumer Product Safety Commission, contended that the Constitution gives the president broad power to fire the leaders of executive-branch agencies. It called into question a 1935 Supreme Court precedent that has become a top target for anti-regulatory groups. 

The court, as is its custom when turning away an appeal, made no comment, and no justice publicly dissented.

* * *

The research groups sued the CPSC over its handling of Freedom of Information Act requests. In urging the court to reject the appeal, the Biden administration said the FOIA requests are insufficient to give the groups legal standing to challenge the commissioners’ job protections.

Read more here.

Jobs, jobs, jobs: Weekly report Oct. 21, 2024

Federal positions closing in the next ten days

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of the Interior, GS 11-13, multiple locations, closes 10/21/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t pf Health & Human Serv./NIH, GS 11-12, Bethesda, MD, closes 10/21/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Homeland Sec./Secret Serv., GS 12-13, Wash., DC, closes 10/24/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Miami, FL, closes 10/25/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info, Specialist, Nuclear Reg. Comm’n, GS 13, Rockville, MD, closes 10/25/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 11-12, Martinsburg, WV, closes 10/25/24 (internal to agency).

Lead Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 13, Wash., DC, closes 10/25/24.

Lead Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 13, Wash., DC, closes 10/25/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 12, Wash., DC, closes 10/25/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 12, Wash., DC, closes 10/25/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 9-11, Wash., DC, closes 10/25/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 9-11, Wash., DC, closes 10/25/24.

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of State, GS 9-11, Wash., DC, closes 10/28/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, Columbus, OH, closes 10/30/24 (non-public).

Gov’t Info. Specialist, Dep’t of Veterans Affairs/VHA, GS 12, West Haven, CT, closes 10/31/24 (agency only).

Court opinion issued Oct. 17, 2024

Energy Policy Advocates v. SEC (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) agency performed an adequate search for SEC communications with two organizations regarding the agency’s proposed climate rulemaking, an issue that plaintiff did not dispute; (2) agency properly relied on Exemption 4 to withhold organizations’ billing rates, labor categories, project structure information, strategic development goals, and plans concerning product costs; SEC concretely explained how disclosure would provide an advantage to organizations’ competitors, which satisfied foreseeable harm requirement; and (3) SEC properly withheld certain information under Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege, and it provided “focused and concrete” explanations how disclosure would chill future agency deliberations and cause “harmful confusion” to the public.

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

Court opinion issued Oct. 15, 2024

Jimenez v. DHS (11th Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that various DHS components performed adequate searches for records concerning the revocation of plaintiffs’ visa, and that they properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1202(f); rejecting plaintiff’s arguments that DHS’s declarations violated the “best evidence rule in Federal Rule of Evidence 1002,” and that several instances of inconsistent processing rebutted the presumption of good faith accorded to those declarations.

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