![]() 23 Of particular note, the News Organizations argued the government did not justify its use of the deliberative process privilege under Exemption 5 24 for six categories of documents: (1) emails between FBI personnel and Director Comey discussing draft revisions of his New York Times letter, (2) drafts of the Inspector General’s report, (3) the FBI’s “Factual Accuracy Comments” on said draft report, (4) drafts of “PowerPoint slides allegedly concerning undercover operations,” (5) the Inspector General’s cover memo accompanying the final Inspector General report, and (6) emails between FBI attorneys and other personnel discussing recommendations for policy changes in the approval process for news media impersonation. Still unsatisfied, the News Organizations again challenged the validity of the exemptions. 21 In response, the FBI began releasing records, but still withheld some under several of the enumerated FOIA exemptions. 19 In 2017, the district court granted summary judgment for the government, 20 but the D.C. 18 Unhappy with the response, the Reporters Committee and Associated Press (“News Organizations”) sued the FBI and DOJ, alleging that the FBI engaged in wrongful withholding. ![]() 17 In response to the first request, the FBI claimed to have not found any relevant records, and it ignored all other requests. ![]() ![]() Meanwhile, back in October 2014, the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press had submitted two FOIA requests to the FBI asking for records related to impersonation of the press. 15 In September 2016, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Inspector General revealed that the FBI had adopted an interim policy in June 2016 restricting agents impersonating members of the press. 13 This discovery elicited widespread criticism from the press and members of Congress, 14 leading then–FBI Director James Comey to pen a letter to the editor in November 2014 in the New York Times defending the practice. 12 Seven years later, in October 2014, the media found out that this was done by having a special agent identify himself as an Associated Press reporter and ask the suspect for input on an article, baiting him into clicking a link that installed the tracking malware. In June 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated a series of high school bomb threats by using a surveillance program to monitor the suspect’s electronic activities. Circuit intensified the methodological dissonance between the courts and neglected an opportunity to derive the benefits that flow from greater interpretive uniformity. 11 By departing from the textualist approach to FOIA endorsed by the Supreme Court, the D.C. 10 In interpreting the statute, the court claimed that the meaning of the statutory text alone was apparent, but clarified no further and instead relied on its analysis of the amendment’s legislative history. Circuit held that the foreseeable harm standard is not satisfied by “generalized and conclusory statements,” 9 but instead requires a rigorous and particularized showing of harm for each category of documents to be withheld. In 1966, Congress enacted the Freedom of Information Act 1 (FOIA) with the grand vision to “pierce the veil of administrative secrecy and to open agency action to the light of public scrutiny,” 2 providing that federal agencies, “upon any request for records . . . , shall make the records promptly available to any person.” 3 However, Congress also included nine exemptions from disclosure, 4 highlighting the careful balance the law strikes between “the right of the public to know and the need of the Government to keep information in confidence.” 5 The latest amendment to the statute, the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, 6 provides that an agency can withhold information under an exemption only if it “reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption” or if “disclosure is prohibited by law.” 7 Recently, in Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press v.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |