Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - FOIA

Big win in U.S. Court of Appeals for CREW: FOIA request of White House visitor records must be processed

crew — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:53:16 -0500

Today, CREW successfully moved ahead in its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for public access to Secret Service records of top conservative religious leaders who have visited the White House. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a decision in CREW v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Security, dismissing the government’s appeal.

After learning of the decision, CREW's chief counsel Anne Weismann said:

We are pleased that the D.C. Circuit is requiring the government to provide these Secret Service records that the White House has been trying to hide from the public. The American people are entitled to know who has been influencing the White House.

Anne is right, of course.

Basically, the district court rejected the Bush administration’s argument that the records belong to the president, not the Secret Service, and are therefore not subject to the FOIA. Today’s opinion holds that the court does not have jurisdiction to resolve the government’s appeal because the district court has not ordered the government to release any records, simply to process CREW’s request.

The D.C. Circuit also resoundingly rejected the White House’s argument that requiring the government to process the request and invoke exemptions would place a constitutionally impermissible burden on the president or vice president. The court found that CREW’s request is “narrowly drawn” and that requiring the administration to rely on the FOIA’s exemptions to protect claims of executive privilege “is a routine occurrence, not a uniquely intrusive burden.” As a result of the court’s ruling, the Secret Service will now have to process CREW’s request.

CREW will appeal Judge's decision that White House Office of Administration is not subject to FOIA

crew — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:14:59 -0500

Yesterday, a Federal District Court Judge ruled "that the Office of Administration (OA) is not an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)." CREW will appeal that decision.

Today's Washington Post included the reactions to the decision from the Bush administration and CREW:

The White House has been criticized by congressional Democrats, historians and watchdog groups over alleged sloppy retention of e-mails between 2001 and 2005, a period that included the Iraq war.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the White House "welcomed" the decision. CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, said in a statement that "we are disappointed in the ruling and believe the judge reached the wrong legal conclusion."

Anne Weismann, chief counsel for CREW, said the group will appeal the decision. She said she is worried that without prompt judicial action, the records will not become public "for many years" after President Bush leaves office.

In another lawsuit, CREW and another group, the National Security Archive, have asked a federal judge to order the Bush administration to take steps to preserve and retain the e-mails in question.

AP: "Permitting any private organization to inquire into White House functions is an unusual step"

crew — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:45:10 -0600

The private organization is, of course, CREW. We made significant progress in our lawsuit against the White House Office of Administration yesterday -- quite significant:

A federal judge has agreed to let a private group delve into the operations of an office at the White House as part of a controversy over whether large amounts of e-mail have disappeared.

Permitting any private organization to inquire into White House functions is an unusual step. And U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (KO-lar KO-tell-ee) made that point clear in her six-page order Monday.

Federal District Judge: CREW can conduct discovery in lawsuit against White House Office of Administration

crew — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:03:54 -0600

Major development today in CREW's lawsuit against the White House Office of Administration in our case over the missing White House e-mails.

Today, Federal District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued an order allowing CREW)to conduct limited discovery in the case of CREW v. Office of Administration (OA). The court order can be found here.

For all the non-lawyer types, in short, discovery is a key part of the pre-trial process where the parties provide relevant information (including documents) to each other. Because the Office of Administration claims to be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) -- despite responding to FOIA requests in the past -- CREW argued that discovery was necessary to determine whether the Office of Administration is indeed an agency as defined by federal law. Today, the court agreed with us. This ruling means that within the next 10 days, CREW and the White House will have to develop a "Joint Discovery Plan."

In our lawsuit, CREW is seeking documents that the Office of Administration prepared assessing the scope of the missing White House email problem and its proposed recovery plan.

Bush cuts funding for FOIA Operations, wants Justice to handle FOIA responsibilities

crew — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:05:16 -0600

Just because Bush signed the new FOIA law doesn't mean it will be enforced. From the authorative FOIA Blog:

Those that thought the President's recent signing of the recent FOIA amendments law was too good to be true were greeted Monday with the other shoe dropping. In his most recent budget proposal, the President failed to provide any funding for the FOIA Ombudsman's Office in the National Archives and Records Administration and attempts to shift the responsibilities of that office to the Department of Justice. Reaction as shown in this article was widespread and critical of the President's decision.

Readers of my blog know I stated that without providing funding for FOIA Operations, this law had minimal impact. Unfortunately it only took one month (and a full eleven months before many of the provisions of the law become effective) for me to be correct.

In step for open government, FOIA reforms were signed by Bush

crew — Mon, 7 Jan 2008 12:50:28 -0600

Austin American Statesman reminds us that whie most Americans were celebrating New Years Eve, President Bush took the time to sign into law the Freedom of Information Act reforms. That legislation was supported by CREW and a broad coalition of other organizations across the political spectrum:

In a surprising move, President Bush signed the open government act of 2007, which amends the aging Freedom of Information Act of 1966. It was a much-needed step toward public disclosure that should force government agencies to respond to records requests in a timely manner.

The bill was sponsored by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, and both fought hard for it. It wasn’t assured that Bush would sign it into law, but he did Dec. 31.

Federal agencies routinely ignore requests for information from the public. Some requests have languished in bureaucratic limbo for more than two years. Such delays are unacceptable in a democracy, and the bill Bush signed is designed to improve the situation.

Among other things, the new law gives federal agencies 20 days to respond to requests - or pay for the search and copy costs. Agencies that worry about their budgets should be quick to respond to public requests for documents rather than eat the costs. The bill also creates a tracking system so requesters can know where their queries are in the system.

In another important change, the bill requires agencies to create a response time report, so everyone can know how long a request has gone unanswered. And it creates an independent ombudsman’s office to review performances and mediate disputes.

House and Senate pass FOIA Reform Legislation

crew — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:01:50 -0600

Legislation to reform the Freedom of Information Act has finally passed both Houses of Congress. CREW is a strong supporter of these much needed reforms. Today's Washington Post has the details:

The bill would encourage faster compliance with FOIA requests. By law, agencies must respond within 20 days, but in practice the process can take months or years. Delays lengthened in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as agencies began to favor nondisclosure in the name of national security.

Under the measure, requests would be assigned public tracking numbers. Agencies that exceed the 20-day deadline for responses would be denied the right to charge requesters for research or copying costs.

The bill would strengthen the ability of people who sue over their FOIA requests to collect attorneys' fees and would establish an office at the National Archives to accept citizen complaints about unfulfilled FOIA requests, issue opinions and foster best practices.

"In an era of increased government secrecy, we cannot postpone reforming the very act that keeps our government open to the people whose government this is," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). "FOIA helps make government accountable and responsive to the people."

CREW wants to know: What is the current e-mail policy for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice? And why did it change?

crew — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:02:18 -0600

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed technology and e-mails with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. Rice indicated that the State Department has changed its policy regarding e-mail and blackberrys:

QUESTION: So do you not take your blackberry when you go to China?

SECRETARY RICE: The truth of the matter is I don't have one. But I used to, but I don't now.

QUESTION: Is that because of security reasons?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, they don't let me play with almost anything technological now, Maria. Funny, but it seems they all want to do it for me. And it's too bad because, you know, I love the internet, I love e-mail and --

Who are "they"? What is the policy? And, why and when did the policy change? Given the major scandals surrounding the Bush administration involving e-mails, CREW wants to know. Last week, CREW filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request "seeking documents stating the Department of State’s policies governing the Secretary of State’s methods of communicating via e-mail with audiences both internal and external to the U.S. government."

One of the myriad Bush administration's e-mail controversies was exposed by CREW in our report, WITHOUT A TRACE: The Missing White House Emails and the Violations of the Presidential Records Act. That report details the legal issues behind the story of the White House e-mail scandal. Earlier this month, in a lawsuit brought by CREW, a U.S. Federal District Court Judge issued the first-ever Temporary Restraining Order against the Bush administration. The order prevents the Bush White House from destroying back-up copies of millions of deleted emails while the lawsuit is pending.

Melanie Sloan on Hardball discussing the Bush administration's own contradictions over FOIA

crew — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:02:59 -0500

Melanie Sloan appeared on Hardball last night to talk about the contradictions between what the Bush administration said in court documents about FOIA requests -- and what the White House website said. Hardball managed to find someone to try to defend the Bush administration's contradictions. But, as Melanie notes, the law is the law and even the Bush administration is supposed to follow the law:

Does the FOIA officer in the Office of Administration have "the easiest job in the world?"

crew — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:42:07 -0500

Chris Joyner, who writes about First Amendment issues at the Clarion-Ledger, asks who has "the easiest job in the world?" He also has an answer:

Apparently, it's FOIA officer Carol Ehrlich in the White House's Office of Administration.

The Justice Department is claiming the office, which handles (surprise) administrative functions for the White House, is not covered by FOIA, despite the fact that it has a FOIA officer and has responded to FOIA requests in the past. In fact, an executive order has the office was under a FOIA improvement plan. No matter, Justice said.

Noting that CREW's Melanie Sloan was "not impressed with Justice's claim," Mr. Joyner also has a suggestion for anyone who know Ms. Ehrlich:

Anyway, if you went to school with Carol and are looking to catch up, now is a good time to call. Turns out, her workload just got a lot lighter.