Each year the federal courts issue hundreds of decisions in FOIA cases, addressing all aspects of the law. These decisions shape the way the law is interpreted and applied by the many attorneys and access professionals across the government who handle FOIA requests, administrative appeals, and litigation. To aid those professionals, and to facilitate greater understanding of the FOIA overall, OIP posts summaries of FOIA decisions to this website.
This website includes decisions decided since May 2009. That period coincides with the Spring 2009 completion of the most recent edition of the United States Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act.
All decisions are presented both chronologically, based on the month of issuance, and topically. To facilitate their review, each decision is broken down by exemption or procedural element. Although we have designed these summaries to reflect the key aspects of each decision, by their nature these are summaries only, and such things as internal citations and quotations have been omitted. Our goal is to provide readers with an overview of the cases as they are decided during the year, but for a complete understanding of any given case readers are, of course, encouraged to read it in its entirety.
Melanie Ann Pustay |
Director |
Office of Information Policy |
(202) 514 - FOIA (3642) |