Michigan's public records law stands out as a national outlier for exempting the governor and state lawmakers from its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Other public bodies in Michigan must ...

In particular, Connolly referenced CNN reporters who in February submitted a FOIA request to the Office of Personnel Management for records about the security clearances of Department of ...

Happy one-year anniversary to FOIA Files! On March 8, 2024, I launched this newsletter with a simple goal: “to bring you behind the scenes as I battle government agencies, challenge their ...

CREW filed a FOIA lawsuit in February seeking to compel DOGE to comply with its records requests. In response, lawyers for the U.S. government argued that the agency was no longer subject to the ...

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) had brought the case against DOGE after the agency refused to process the watchdog group’s request for information under FOIA on t ...

FOIA works best when requests are as specific as possible. The U.S. government sometimes plays games with journalists, researchers, and other watchdogs, rejecting asks it considers too vague ...

And for the entirety of its operation thus far, DOGE has ignored Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by claiming that it is immune from the process by arguing that it is a “presidential ...

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is likely subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a federal judge ruled late Monday, rejecting the Trump administration’s position that ...

The U.S. DOGE Service refused by arguing it wasn’t an “agency” subject to FOIA, but rather a free-standing component of the office of the president. Cooper ruled that DOGE “is likely ...

Cooper is not giving CREW everything it was seeking in the FOIA litigation. He rejected a request that the records the group seeks – including DOGE documents like internal memos, policy changes ...

The Trump White House had argued that the office was shielded from FOIA because it was only giving advice to the president, whose team was then putting it all into effect. But Judge Cooper said ...

Cooper wrote that DOGE is likely covered by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), adding that “the public would be irreparably harmed by an indefinite delay in unearthing the records.” ...