Animal Legal Defense Fund v. U.S. Dep't of Agric.

935 F.3d 858
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided August 29, 2019·No. No. 17-16858·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

N.R. Smith, Circuit Judge:

The Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") requires federal agencies to make certain agency records "available for public inspection in an electronic format." 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2). FOIA's judicial-review provision authorizes district courts to enjoin violations of this "reading-room" provision. See id. § 552(a)(4)(B).

BACKGROUND

The Legal Landscape

Congress designed FOIA "to pierce the veil of administrative secrecy and to open agency action to the light of public scrutiny." Dep't of Air Force v. Rose , 425 U.S. 352, 361, 96 S.Ct. 1592, 48 L.Ed.2d 11 (1976) (quoting Rose v. Dep't of Air Force , 495 F.2d 261, 263 (2d Cir. 1974) ). Corruption, government inefficiency, and mistrust of public institutions all flourish "unless the people are permitted to know what their government is up to. " See Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press , 489 U.S. 749, 772-73, 109 S.Ct. 1468, 103 L.Ed.2d 774 (1989) (quoting EPA v. Mink , 410 U.S. 73, 105, 93 S.Ct. 827, 35 L.Ed.2d 119 (1973) (Douglas, J., dissenting)); see also id. at 772 n.20, 109 S.Ct. 1468. After all, public scrutiny and an informed citizenry are "vital to the functioning of a democratic society, needed to check against corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed."

*862NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co. , 437 U.S. 214, 242, 98 S.Ct. 2311, 57 L.Ed.2d 159 (1978).

To implement these goals, FOIA creates three different mechanisms for making agency records available to the public. First, the law compels agencies to publish certain categories of documents in the Federal Register. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(1). Second, in the provision at issue in this case, FOIA requires agencies to make certain records "available for public inspection in an electronic format." Id. § 552(a)(2). Third, under FOIA's most-recognized provision, members of the public may request agency records, and the agency-subject to limited exemptions-must produce them. Id. § 552(a)(3). Agencies must provide the record "in any form or format requested by the person if the record is readily reproducible by the agency in that form or format." Id. § 552(a)(3)(B).

Unlike FOIA's "reactive" mechanism in § 552(a)(3), § 552(a)(2) identifies certain categories of records the agency must make available on an ongoing basis, no request necessary. This affirmative obligation applies to:

(A) final opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well as orders, made in the adjudication of cases;
(B) those statements of policy and interpretations which have been adopted by the agency and are not published in the Federal Register;
(C) administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect a member of the public;
(D) copies of all records, regardless of form or format-
(i) that have been released to any person under paragraph (3) [ § 552(a)(3) ]; and
(ii)(I) that because of the nature of their subject matter, the agency determines have become or are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests for substantially the same records; or
(II) that have been requested 3 or more times; and
(E) a general index of the records referred to under subparagraph (D)[.]

Id. § 552(a)(2).

Section 552(a)(2) became known as the "reading-room" provision because, as the Department of Justice ("DOJ") explains, agencies historically met their § 552(a)(2) obligations by placing the appropriate records in a physical, public reading room. DOJ, Dep't of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act: Proactive Disclosures ("DOJ 2014 Guide to FOIA "), 12-13 (July 23, 2014), https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/oip/legacy/2014/07/23/proactive-disclosures.pdf. However, Congress ushered FOIA into the electronic age in 1996, amending the statute to require proactively disclosed records created after November 1, 1996, to be available by "electronic means." See Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-231,

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Animal Legal Defense Fund v. U.S. Dep't of Agric., 935 F.3d 858 (9th Cir. 2019).

935 F.3d 858 (Animal Legal Defense Fund v. U.S. Dep't of Agric.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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