Legal Filings

Feb 06, 2012

CREW Files Amicus Brief in FOIA Lawsuit Seeking Records on Funding Restrictions

Amicus Briefs, Federal Agencies, Department of Justice, Organizations, Electronic Frontier Foundation

On Friday, CREW together with the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Brennan Center v. Dep’t of Justice, et al., (2d Cir.), a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking copies of Office of Legal Counsel memoranda that would help explain the government’s radical shift regarding the constitutionality of certain funding restrictions. The district court held the OLC memoranda were not protected from disclosure by the FOIA because the government had adopted their rationale into official agency policy. CREW and EFF filed a brief stressing the need to uphold the district court ruling to prevent the government from keeping secret a body of “secret law” governing what agencies must do and why.