On September 27, 2007, Electronic Frontier Foundation filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The plaintiff alleged that the DOJ had wrongfully withheld the requested records from the plaintiff.

According to the complaint, on February 6, 2006, there was widespread media reporting that the National Security Agency had secured the cooperation of large telecommunications companies in its efforts to eavesdrop without warrants on international calls by suspected terrorists.

On August 5, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Protect America Act of 2007, legislation that amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to expand the government's power to intercept overseas communications of Americans without warrants.

In reaction to FISA, on August 16, 2007, plaintiffs requested all records from December 2005 to August 16, 2007 concerning briefings, discussions, or other exchanges that Justice Department officials have had concerning with representatives of telecommunications companies, offices of members of the Senate or House of Representatives. By letter dated August 27, 2007, the DOJ Office of lnformation and Privacy acknowledged receipt of Plaintiffs FOIA requests and informed Plaintiff that its requests for expedited processing had been granted. However, DOJ has neither completed the processing of Plaintiffs requests, nor informed Plaintiff of an anticipated date for the completion of the processing of the requests.

The case was assigned to Judge Reggie Walton. On December 4, 2009, the parties reported that they were engaging in settlement discussions. On February 1, 2010, the plaintiff, with the concurrence of the defendant, voluntarily dismissed the case.

The case is closed.

Ginny Lee - 02/10/2017


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