Freedom of Information Act ResourcesPart of the research materials on LLSDC's Legislative Source Book FOI Acts and Legislative Histories
U.S. Department of Justice Resources
Other Government ResourcesA Citizen's Guide to Using FOIA & Privacy Act, 2012 - U.S. House Gov. Reform Committee CRS Reports on FOIA (largely past reports - via Univ. of North Texas Digital Library) CRS Report R41406 - Freedom of Information Act and Nondisclosure Provisions in Other Fed. Laws CRS Report R41933 - Freedom of Information Act: Background, Legislation & Policy Issues CRS Report RL32780 - Freedom of Information Act Amendments, 110th Congress Executive Order 12600 of Jun. 23, 1987 - Predisclosure Notifications for Confidential Commercial Information Executive Order 13392 of Dec. 14, 2005 - Improving Agency Disclosure of Information Executive Order 13489 of Jan. 21, 2009 - Presidential Records Executive Order 13642 of May 9, 2013 - Making Open and Machine Readable Government Information FOIA.gov - information, making FOIA requests, agency contacts, FOIA request data by agency, etc. FOIA online (one stop for making/following FOIA requests at selected agencies) - - most Federal agencies have a link to their FOIA offices at the bottom of their home pages GAO Reports on "Freedom of Information" (mostly older reports via GAO search engine) - - GAO-07-491T - Feb. 2007, Freedom of Information Act: Processing Trends Show Importance of.. Office of Government Information Services - multiple resources and links OMB Circular A-110 - Uniform requirements on gov. grants & awards (FOIA requests for research data) OMB memo of Dec. 8, 2009 - Open Government Directive per Pres. Memo of Jan. 21, 2009 Presidential Memorandum of Jan. 21, 2009 - Transparency and Open Government Presidential Memorandum of Jan. 21, 2009 - Freedom of Information SEC's FOIA & Privacy Office - FOIA's Nine Exemptions (briefly stated) Non-Government Resources
Recent FOIA Court DecisionsDOJ's FOIA Court Decision Summaries (from Jan. 2013 to somewhat recent months) SCOUT search of recent Court Opinions for "FOIA" Justia.com's search for "FOIA request" AND Court (sort by date for recent cases - only 80 shown) PLOL.org - search for "FOIA" cases (may restrict by date in advanced options) Recent Selected FOIA Opinions:: Aug. 25, 2015 - Cause of Action v FTC - DC Cir - to obtain no FOIA fee treatment, digital journalists need not show wide dissemination just public availability to those interested May 19, 2015 - Neary v FDIC - D DC - FOIA request by unhired applicant for info on candidates interviewed is exempt from disclosure for privacy reasons (exemption 6) Mar. 31, 2015 - Ball v Federal Reserve Board - D DC - AIG & Bear Stern documents of FR banks, supervised financial institutions, are exempt from disclosure per FOIA exemptions 5 & 8 Mar. 16, 2015 - Hall Assoc. v EPA - D DC - agency performed an adequate search but should have worked with the FOIA requester to modify its request so that they would be acceptable Feb. 10, 2015 - EPIC v DHS - DC Cir - FOIA exemption 7(F) on possible physical endangerment of individuals is upheld in request for an operating procedure to prevent cell phone activated explosions Feb. 04, 2015 - N.H. Right to Life v HHS - 1st Cir - FOIA Exemption 4 exempts from disclosure confidential commercial info, including certain Planned Parenthood docs Jan. 13, 2015 - Competitive Enterprise Inst v NSA - FOIA request for phone calls, e-mail & text messages from EPA officials through NSA's admitted collection of general telephony data is denied per natl security exemption Dec. 18, 2014 - Nat'l Assn of Criminal Def. Lawyers v EOUSA - D DC - DOJ's Fed. Criminal Discovery Manual is exempted (#5) from disclosure as an attorney work product with advice on litigation defenses Nov. 20, 2014 - Abdeljabbar v ATF - D DC - annual appropriations language (125 Stat. 609) exempting disclosure of ATF database info doesn't satisfy OPEN FOIA Act's "permanent prohibition" requirements Nov. 14, 2014 - Public Investors v SEC - DC Cir - FOIA Exemption 8, which protects records related to agency examinations, can be invoked to withhold docs of examinations in FINRA arbitrations
Compiled by members of LLSDC's Legislative Research Special Interest Section. Please email your questions or comments to the Legislative SIS. Last Updated: September 15, 2015 |