We’ve grown accustomed to learning about government actions only because an enterprising person or group brought them to light using the Freedom of Information Act. Enacted in 1967 after a decade of debate and Congressional hearings, and most recently amended in 2016, FOIA was intended to correct what some viewed as the Administrative Procedure Act’s tendency toward nondisclosure.
This panel will discuss the law, how FOIA requests are used by reporters, researchers, academics, interest groups, trial lawyers and others to obtain information from the government, how the government protects information it considers covered by FOIA exemptions, how courts review government denials of FOIA requests, and some of the more newsworthy disclosures obtained using FOIA.