I just want to take a moment to let all of you know that I am leaving private practice and returning to government service. As a result, the FOIA blog won’t continue in its present form — there won’t be as many updates on this blog in the future and they’ll be much more Sgt.
The FOIA Blog
Blog Authors
Latest from The FOIA Blog
Supreme Court Hears Exemption 4 Argument
By Scott Hodes
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Exemption 4 yesterday – here is the requester’s report on the proceedings which will largely depend on the meaning of the word confidential under the FOIA as the Supreme Court sees it.
Exemption 4 To Be Argued At Supreme Court 4/22/19
By Scott Hodes
A rare occurrence will be happening next week. The Supreme Court will hear a FOIA case and the issue will be one that the Supreme Court has never ruled on – FOIA Exemption 4. For years, decisions by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia have been followed to set the rules on…
Candidate Proposes FOIA for Congress
By Scott Hodes
The Washington Examiner has this on a recent Democratic Presidential forum in which candidate Julian Castro proposes making Congress subject to the FOIA. While it is an unlikely occurrence, it would increase transparency in government. Currently only portions of the Executive Branch are covered by the law.
FOIA.Gov Portal Not Forwarding Requests To Agencies
By Scott Hodes
Here’s a Sunshine Week celebratory story. I made a request last month to an agency via FOIA.Gov (per the agency’s instructions). I was assigned an ID for the request from FOIA.Gov. I checked the status today and was told that none of the requests from the portal were being forwarded to the agency, which of…
FBI Building Appraisal and Offers Ordered Released
By Scott Hodes
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the General Services Administration to release its appraisal of the value of the FBI’s Headquarters building and any offers it received for the building according to Federal News Network. The Court found that the documents did not meet the criteria of the…
FBI Loses Exemption 7E Glomar Case
By Scott Hodes
The FBI has lost its novel attempt to use a Glomar response for Exemption 7E. The case brought by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in the District Court for the District of Columbia found that the FBI’s utilization of a Glomar response (can neither confirm not deny that records exist) for records…
HUD FOIA Tracking System Down
By Scott Hodes
ProPublica has this on HUD’s contract for the system for processing and tracking FOIA requests. The contract ran out during the government shutdown and hasn’t yet been renewed – so the agency is scrambling to process and track FOIA requests. One would think that managing an agency and its FOIA program should be easier than…
Supreme Court Sets Date for Exemption 4 Arguments
By Scott Hodes
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 22 in the Exemption 4 case brought by an association attempting to stop the government from releasing information to the Argus Leader newspaper. The Argus Leader has additional details here.
Nestle Trade Secrets Protected Pursuant To Exemption 4
By Scott Hodes
Courthouse News Service has this on an attempt to learn more about Nestle’s use of water from public lands — a District Court in the District of Columbia ruled that the global giant’s trade secrets were protected pursuant to Exemption 4 of the FOIA; however, names of some of its employees needed to be released…