The number of FOIA lawsuits filed by nonprofit and advocacy organizations has generally grown over the past two decades, irrespective of which political party was in office — from the George W. Bush administration, through President Obama’s eight years, and continuing during Donald Trump’s first months as president. These findings emerge from a detailed study of court records by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data research center at Syracuse University.
Nonprofit groups representing all shades of the political spectrum have contributed to this rise, and their activity has increased regardless of changes in various administrations’ FOIA policies.
To give some perspective on these trends, in FY 2001, the first year of the Bush administration, nonprofit/advocacy organizations filed 47 cases challenging federal agencies’ FOIA practices. These cases made up one out of every seven (14.2%) federal FOIA suits filed that year. Ten years later the annual number of suits filed by this sector surpassed 100 individual cases. By June 2015, this sector’s 12-month running total had topped 150, and in April of 2017 nonprofit and advocacy organizations’ FOIA filings topped 200 for the first time.
As shown below in Figure 1, these filings are continuing to climb[1]. This sector now accounts for four out of every ten FOIA lawsuits now being filed — more suits than those filed by any other single class of FOIA filer[2].
Figure 1. Federal FOIA Lawsuits filed by Nonprofit and Advocacy Organizations (totals covering one year period ending in month shown)As the FOIA Project reported in its January and May 2017 reports, reporters and news organizations have also recently brought an increasing number of federal FOIA lawsuits. However, the pattern of their increase differed from that documented for the nonprofit and advocacy sector. Nonprofit and advocacy organizations’ lawsuits increased during both the Bush and Obama administrations. In comparison, the number of media suits changed very little during most of this period. Only in the last few years have news media FOIA lawsuits jumped[3].
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We have added 59 documents from 15 FOIA cases filed between July 9, 2017 and July 15, 2017. Note that there can be delays between the date a case is filed and when it shows up on PACER. If there are filings from this period that have yet to be posted on PACER, this FOIA Project list may not be complete.
Click on a case title below to view details for that case, including links to the associated docket and complaint documents.
- JAMES MADISON PROJECT et al v. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (filed Jul 14, 2017)
The James Madison Project and Politico reporter Josh Gerstein submitted FOIA requests to the Department of Justice for records concerning any communications between DOJ and the FBI as to whether President Trump was a target of or a material witness to any investigation. The James Madison Project and Gerstein also requested expedited processing read more…
We have added 12 decisions of a procedural or substantive nature filed between July 9, 2017 and July 15, 2017. These are associated with 10 FOIA cases pending in federal district court. Note that because there can be delays between the date a decision is made and when it shows up on PACER, this listing includes only decisions that appeared on PACER during this period.
Click on the date to view the full text of the decision. Click on a case title below to view other details for that case, including links to the docket report and complaint.
- CAE 1:2015cv00007 — Turner v. United States Department of the Treasury
- July 10, 2017: ORDER GRANTING Defendant's Ex Parte Application Requesting Modification of the Briefing Schedule, signed by District Judge Dale A. Drozd on 7/10/17. (Marrujo, C)
We have added 105 documents from 13 FOIA cases filed between July 2, 2017 and July 8, 2017. Note that there can be delays between the date a case is filed and when it shows up on PACER. If there are filings from this period that have yet to be posted on PACER, this FOIA Project list may not be complete.
Click on a case title below to view details for that case, including links to the associated docket and complaint documents.
- CAUSE OF ACTION INSTITUTE v. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (filed Jul 6, 2017)
Cause of Action Institute submitted two FOIA requests to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for records concerning the retention of social media messages. Cause of Action Institute requested a fee waiver for its first request and expedited processing as part of its second request. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests read more…
We have added 6 decisions of a procedural or substantive nature filed between July 2, 2017 and July 8, 2017. These are associated with 5 FOIA cases pending in federal district court. Note that because there can be delays between the date a decision is made and when it shows up on PACER, this listing includes only decisions that appeared on PACER during this period.
Click on the date to view the full text of the decision. Click on a case title below to view other details for that case, including links to the docket report and complaint.
- CAN 3:2017cv01587 — Frost v. Wilkinson
- July 5, 2017: ORDER by Judge Laurel Beeler granting [12] Motion to Dismiss; granting [36] Motion to Dismiss; finding as moot [39] Motion for Miscellaneous Relief. The court dismisses the complaint without prejudice. The plaintiff may file an amended com plaint, if he chooses, to add a proper defendant and to plausibly allege that his FOIA claim is not moot and is otherwise viable. Any amended complaint must be filed within 28 days of this order: that is, by August 2, 2017. The plaintiff's subsequent motion (ECF No. 39) is denied as moot. (lblc3S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 7/5/2017)
We have added 111 documents from 19 FOIA cases filed between June 25, 2017 and July 1, 2017. Note that there can be delays between the date a case is filed and when it shows up on PACER. If there are filings from this period that have yet to be posted on PACER, this FOIA Project list may not be complete.
Click on a case title below to view details for that case, including links to the associated docket and complaint documents.
- DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOUNDATION v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (filed Jun 30, 2017)
The Democracy Forward Foundation submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Transportation for records concerning the use of encrypted and ephemeral social media applications by the agency to avoid creating and retaining public records. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request, but after hearing nothing further from the agency, the Democracy Forward Foundation filed suit read more…
We have added 7 decisions of a procedural or substantive nature filed between June 25, 2017 and July 1, 2017. These are associated with 7 FOIA cases pending in federal district court. Note that because there can be delays between the date a decision is made and when it shows up on PACER, this listing includes only decisions that appeared on PACER during this period.
Click on the date to view the full text of the decision. Click on a case title below to view other details for that case, including links to the docket report and complaint.
- CAE 1:2017cv00034 — Ford v. Ciraolo-Klepper et al
- June 26, 2017: ORDER Denying [21] Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment, signed by District Judge Dale A. Drozd on 6/23/17. (Gonzalez, R)
JAMES MADISON PROJECT et al v. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY et al and 13 other new FOIA lawsuits
We have added 93 documents from 14 FOIA cases filed between June 18, 2017 and June 24, 2017. Note that there can be delays between the date a case is filed and when it shows up on PACER. If there are filings from this period that have yet to be posted on PACER, this FOIA Project list may not be complete.
Click on a case title below to view details for that case, including links to the associated docket and complaint documents.
- JAMES MADISON PROJECT et al v. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY et al (filed Jun 22, 2017)
The James Madison Project and Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast submitted FOIA requests to the CIA and other intelligence agencies for records concerning President Trump’s decision to share classified information with Russian officials during a meeting at the White House. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests, but after the James Madison Project heard nothing further from the agencies, it filed suit read more…
We have added 8 decisions of a procedural or substantive nature filed between June 18, 2017 and June 24, 2017. These are associated with 8 FOIA cases pending in federal district court. Note that because there can be delays between the date a decision is made and when it shows up on PACER, this listing includes only decisions that appeared on PACER during this period.
Click on the date to view the full text of the decision. Click on a case title below to view other details for that case, including links to the docket report and complaint.
- CAN 3:2016cv05884 — Facebook, Inc. and Subsidiaries v. Internal Revenue Service
- June 19, 2017: ORDER by Judge Laurel Beeler granting [38] Motion for Partial Summary Judgment; denying [28] Motion to Compel. The court grants the IRS's motion for partial summary judgment and dismisses without prejudice Facebook's claim for docum ents in electronic, native-file format with metadata. The court denies Facebook's motion to compel. The court also encourages, but does not require, the IRS to produce the documents discussed at the June 15 hearing and described in the attached order. (lblc1S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 6/19/2017)
We have added 175 documents from 33 FOIA cases filed between June 11, 2017 and June 17, 2017. Note that there can be delays between the date a case is filed and when it shows up on PACER. If there are filings from this period that have yet to be posted on PACER, this FOIA Project list may not be complete.
Click on a case title below to view details for that case, including links to the associated docket and complaint documents.
- Reyes v. Bureau of Indian Affairs Pacific Regional Office (filed Jun 13, 2017)
Emilio Reyes submitted a FOIA request to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pacific Regional Office for records concerning two 1928 California Indian blanket applications. The agency disclosed 178 documents in part and withheld 95 documents entirely. Reyes then filed suit. read more…
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