Case Detail
| Case Title | EDDINGTON v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| District | District of Columbia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Washington, DC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case Number | 1:2019cv02984 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date Filed | 2019-10-03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date Closed | Open | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Judge | Judge James E. Boasberg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plaintiff | PATRICK EDDINGTON | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case Description | Patrick Eddington, a researcher at the Cato Institute, submitted a FOIA request to the U.S. Postal Service for records concerning a registration or detention program for Muslims in the event of the authorization of military force against any nation. Eddington also requested expedited processing and a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but told Eddington that it was too broad to allow for a search. Eddington filed an administrative appeal of the decision. He was told that his appeal was closed but did not receive a final letter for the agency. Eddington then filed suit. Complaint issues: Adequacy - Search, Litigation - Attorney's fees | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defendant | UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Documents | Docket Complaint Complaint attachment 1 Complaint attachment 2 Complaint attachment 3 Complaint attachment 4 Complaint attachment 5 Complaint attachment 6 Complaint attachment 7 Complaint attachment 8 Opinion/Order [18] FOIA Project Annotation: Patrick Eddington, a researcher at the Cato Institute, has filed multiple complex requests to agencies recently, often requesting expedited processing as well, designed to challenge agencies' ability to respond within the statutory time limit. In the first of his suits to reach a decision, Judge James Boasberg has ruled that Eddington failed to exhaust his administrative remedies by not clarifying his request for how the U.S. Postal Service would respond to a registration or detention program aimed at ethnic or religious minorities. The Postal Service told Eddington that it had 30,000 facilities and needed Eddington to narrow the scope of his request. Instead of narrowing his request, Eddington appealed and agreed to limit his request to five specific offices. After his appeal was denied, Eddington filed suit. USPS argued that Eddington's request was far too vague and unfocused, leaving the agency with the impossible task of trying to interpret the meaning of Eddington's request. Boasberg pointed out that "this requires USPS to research the question and decide to which nations it applies; Plaintiff should have done this homework himself." Boasberg observed that "how is USPS to determine what 'ethnic, religious, or racial heritage groups' are not 'present in the United States'? In other words, where does this definition finds its limit?" He indicated that the only solution was for Eddington "to start over with a clean, comprehensible request." He noted that "there can be no doubt that these deficiencies have deprived USPS of 'an opportunity to exercise its discretion and expertise on the matter.' It has not yet had a chance to even search for records sought by a request that reasonably describes its target."
Issues: Litigation - Jurisdiction - Failure to Exhaust | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| User-contributed Documents | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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