[govinfo] GovInfo News 9-6-2007
- From: "Patrice McDermott" <pmcdermott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "govinfo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <govinfo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "FOI-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <FOI-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 13:03:34 -0400
- Free Federal Court Opinions Website Now Searchable From 2004 to Present
- National Security Archive Announces Decisions in Two FOIA Cases
- National Security Archive Sues to Recover 5 Million Missing White House
E-mails
- White House FOIA Handbook
- Gov’t loses latest battle over NSA spy program documents
- Seek and Ye Shall Find? State CIOs Must Prepare Now for E-Discovery
- Congressional Committees - Secrecy and Delayed Transparency
Patrice McDermott, Director
OpenTheGovernment.org
www.openthegovernment.org
202.332.OPEN (6736)
- FREE FEDERAL COURT OPINIONS WEBSITE NOW SEARCHABLE FROM 2004 TO PRESENT
Justia.com has put online the Federal District Court case opinions and orders
that are available using the opinion report in the Federal Courts' ECF. These
are updated daily. “We have categorized the opinions by state, court, type of
lawsuit and judge and combinations of judge and type of lawsuit. You can also
subscribe to each of categories through RSS feeds to track a judge or court's
decisions on different issues. And we also give the cause of action for each
case. We have also noted on the federal district court case filing database
when we have a judge's opinion (you will see a little gavel). [thanks to
beSpacific.com]
Links: US Federal District Court Opinions with Full Text Search
Federal District Court Filings
***
- NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE ANNOUNCES DECISIONS IN TWO FOIA CASES
Court Permits CIA to Withhold Historic President's Daily Briefs, But Denies
Categorical Exemption for PDBs:
Court Rejects Wiretapping Secrecy Claims, Orders New Index of Documents and
More Detailed Reasons for Withholding:
***
- NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE SUES TO RECOVER 5 MILLION MISSING WHITE HOUSE
E-MAILS
September 5, 2007
The National Security Archive today sued the White House seeking the recovery
and preservation of more than 5 million White House e-mail messages that were
apparently deleted from White House computers between March 2003 and October
2005. The lawsuit filed Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia names as defendants the Executive Office of the President
and its components that are subject to the Federal Records Act, including the
White House Office of Administration (OA), and the National Archives and
Records Administration (which is responsible for long-term preservation of
federal and presidential records), under the records laws and the
Administrative Procedure Act. more
Link: Lawsuit
***
- WHITE HOUSE FOIA HANDBOOK
Recently, the White House changed its FOIA website to exclude the OA from White
House entities subject to FOIA. A note in the FOIA sections of the OA website
now says, "The Office of Administration, whose sole function is to advise and
assist the President, and which has no substantial independent authority, is
not subject to FOIA and related authorities." Under Office of Administration's
FOIA Regulations, it says, "The OA's Regulations concerning FOIA are currently
being updated." OA's annual FOIA reports are available on the White House
website for 1996-2006. In 2006, OA processed 65 requests and spent $87,772 on
FOIA processing (including appeals). more [OpenTheGovernment.org Policy Updates
and thanks to Michael Ravnitzky]
***
- LEGAL BATTLE BREWS OVER NSA SPY PROGRAM
By Rebecca Carr
September 6, 2007
The government has lost the latest tussle over keeping secret documents related
to President Bush’s terrorist surveillance program. U.S. District Judge
Henry Kennedy, in a 24-page ruling, has rejected the Justice Department’s
blanket claim that any information about the National Security Agency’s
warrantless surveillance program should be kept from the public. The lawsuit
was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Security Archive
and the Electronic Privacy Information Center after the administration failed
to turn over documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act two years
ago. more [Cox Secrecy File]
Link: Ruling
***
- SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND? STATE CIOs MUST PREPARE NOW FOR E-DISCOVERY
National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)
For Starters—What is E-Discovery? Electronic Discovery, or “E-Discovery”, is
“any process in which electronic data is sought, located, secured, and searched
with the intent of using it as evidence in a civil or criminal legal case.”
For many organizations in both the public and private sectors, preparing for
e-discovery requests is likely to result in the following: _The alteration of
current business processes with respect to business records and knowledge
assets. _The purchase of new technologies to manage records and knowledge
assets. _An increased need to keep employees informed about their
responsibilities with respect to handling records and information.
Link: Report (PDF; 220 KB)
***
- CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES - SECRECY AND DELAYED TRANSPARENCY
7 Sep 2007
VoterWatch has been trying to post searchable videos of committee hearings.
Frankly, we’ve found it very frustrating because many committees don’t post
video, audio or a transcript. If you are a lobbyist, there’s a number of
services that you can pay a lot of money to and get a same-day transcript. But
if you are a typical Joe like us, good luck on finding out what happened in the
committee hearing. It’s ironic that the Ethics committee - provides no public
no transcript, no audio and no video… more
See also for the 109th Congress
- Online Committee Transparency: Senate Edition [Sunlight Foundation]
- Online Committee Transparency: House Edition [Sunlight Foundation]
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