On July 31, 2017, Plaintiff The Democracy Project, Inc. filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The Plaintiff sought injunctive relief against Defendants Department of State, Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice under the Freedom of ...
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On July 31, 2017, Plaintiff The Democracy Project, Inc. filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The Plaintiff sought injunctive relief against Defendants Department of State, Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552. The Plaintiff is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose focus is on informing the public of operations and activities of the government by gathering and disseminating information likely to contribute significantly to the public understanding of executive branch operations and activities.
On April 6, 2017, President Trump ordered Tomahawk cruise missile strikes against a Syrian-government airbase without obtaining prior authorization from Congress (a Syrian-based policy promised by former President Barack Obama) and without articulating the legal justification for the strikes. The Plaintiff submitted FOIA requests to the Defendants the following day for all records “reflecting, discussing, or otherwise relating” to the strike “and/or the President’s legal authority to launch such a strike”. The Plaintiff asked for these requests to be processed on an expedited basis. About one month later, having received none of the requested documents and having two of its expedited processing requests denied, the Plaintiffs brought this suit and filed a motion for preliminary injunction to have the documents produced by a date certain.
On July 13, 2017, U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper granted in part and denied in part the Plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, directing the Defendants to process the FOIA requests on an expedited basis, but not by a date certain, and to limit the request to documents specifically related to the legal justifications for the April 6 Syria Strikes. 2017 WL 2992076.
On September 8, 2017, the Defendants made a production pursuant to the FOIA requests, but the Plaintiffs contested that the production was too heavily redacted and insufficient. The case is still pending.
Robert Carnes - 11/06/2017
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