The FOIA Project

Jan 2 13

9 new FOIA court documents

by FOIA Project Staff

We have added 9 documents from 3 FOIA cases filed between December 23, 2012 and December 29, 2012. read more…

Dec 28 12

42 new FOIA court documents

by FOIA Project Staff

We have added 42 documents from 10 FOIA cases filed between December 16, 2012 and December 22, 2012. read more…

Dec 20 12

FOIA Lawsuits Increase During Obama Administration

by FOIA Project Staff

Syracuse, NY — A new study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has found that there were more court complaints asking federal judges to force the government to abide by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) during the first term of the Obama Administration than there were in the last term of President Bush.

While this administration-to-administration increase — documented in court records for the entire FY 2005 to FY 2012 period — was relatively small at 6 percent, a comparison of the FOIA filings in the last two years of Mr. Bush’s second term and the last two years of Mr. Obama’s first term showed a far more pronounced jump of 28 percent — from 562 to 720 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. FOIA Lawsuits Filed: Bush vs. Obama Administrations

(Note: because of the natural lags in the filing of all FOIA court cases and difficulties in identifying activities that occur in the year when one administration overlaps another, comparing the events of the two-year periods at the end of the two terms may be more meaningful.)

12 new FOIA court documents

by FOIA Project Staff

We have added 12 documents from 3 FOIA cases filed between December 9, 2012 and December 15, 2012. read more…

Dec 11 12

Site Improvements

by FOIA Project Staff

Over the past 18 months 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.