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AG Holder issues new FOIA guidelines

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday new guidelines for complying with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The new guidelines, designed to increase transparency in government, willrescind the Attorney General's FOIA Memorandum of October 12, 2001, which stated that the Department of Justice would defend decisions to withhold records "unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records." Instead, the Department of Justice will defend a denial of a FOIA request only if (1) the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by one of the statutory exemptions, or (2) disclosure is prohibited by law. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has been involved in many FOIA requests, welcomed Holder's new guidelines, calling to "essential" to strengthen the FOIA. The new guidelines come as Congress considers legislation aimed at strengthening FOIA. In February, the ACLU criticized the Obama administration for its failure to release information relating to the extraordinary rendition programs. Holder's directive finalizes a memorandum issued by President Barack Obama in January, in which he called on all agencies to "adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure" with regard to FOIA documents.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 20, 2009 (boomark / email).