Welcome to the FOIA Project

The goal of FOIAproject.org is to provide the public with timely and complete information about every instance in which the federal government grants or withholds records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Updated daily, this “FOIA accountability engine” now includes detailed information on every case that challenges government withholding in federal court. And we have started expanding coverage to decisions on FOIA administrative requests on an agency-by-agency basis.

By providing a home for comprehensive information on federal FOIA decisions at every stage, the project aims to: (1) create a shaming mechanism by which agencies and officials who ignore the law are held accountable, and (2) arm the public with the full record of FOIA efforts that have and haven’t worked, so anyone can more effectively surmount frequently used roadblocks to public access. Read more…

Latest Additions

We have added decisions on administrative FOIA requests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Coverage begins with ICE decisions made since October 1, 2010. You can search cases, produce listings and examine case details, analyze agency performance, and add your documents to the archives.

Site Improvements to FOIA Lawsuit Coverage

Since this site was launched, we’ve been working to make The FOIA Project more useful, by improving the search tools, expanding coverage, adding statistics and allowing users to upload their own documents. Here are some details on what we’ve been doing:

• Better Search
  Improvements have been made to the case search tool. You can now search by defendant organization and sub-organization, and by the plaintiff’s attorney. You can also specify which documents you want to see: dockets, complaints or opinions. Searching has gotten easier; instead of lists of all possible entries, typing in part of a name brings up a list of suggestions from which you can pick.
• Expanded Coverage
  Coverage has been expanded to include district court cases filed, closed or updated any time since the start of fiscal year 2005 (October 1, 2004). Documents now also include judicial opinions issued for such cases, starting from fiscal year 2005 up to the present.
• More Statistics
  Quick and easy access to statistical information about all district court FOIA filings, closings and pending cases — by department, agency, year, and duration of case — is now available through the FOIA Lawsuits application.
• User Uploads
  A new upload capability lets members of the FOIA community add documents and commentary to existing court cases, or share information about new cases, even those that are not in court. Note: registration is required to upload documents.