New U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued his memo to federal agencies instructing them how to deal with the federal Freedom of Information Act. It echoes President Obama's directive, issued shortly after he took the oath, that stressed records should be presumed to be open.
But Holder seemed to go further in what strikes me as a remarkable statement:
"First, an agency should not withhold information simply because it may do so legally. I strongly encourage agencies to make discretionary disclosures of information. An agency should not withhold information simply because it can demonstrate, as a technical matter, that the records fall within the scope of a FOIA exemption."
Wow. He's asking agencies to completely change the way the way they have approached FOIA at least since 2001, when then-AG John Ashcroft's memo more or less encouraged agencies to keep records to themselves if they could find a reason to. (Read the full memo here, on the Web site of the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press.)
Whether it works is a completely different matter. You have to look no further than Pennsylvania to see how difficult it is to change entrenched bureaucracies.
But Holder seemed to go further in what strikes me as a remarkable statement:
"First, an agency should not withhold information simply because it may do so legally. I strongly encourage agencies to make discretionary disclosures of information. An agency should not withhold information simply because it can demonstrate, as a technical matter, that the records fall within the scope of a FOIA exemption."
Wow. He's asking agencies to completely change the way the way they have approached FOIA at least since 2001, when then-AG John Ashcroft's memo more or less encouraged agencies to keep records to themselves if they could find a reason to. (Read the full memo here, on the Web site of the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press.)
Whether it works is a completely different matter. You have to look no further than Pennsylvania to see how difficult it is to change entrenched bureaucracies.
Look at the right-to-know requests that have been denied under the
state's new open records law, under which records are presumed open
unless the agency can prove they should be private. Many of the denials
simply cite an exemption, or in some cases a lawyer practically
contorts himself to figure out how to craft an argument that a record
shouldn't be released.
Not only does Pennsylvania's new law say that records are presumed open, it also gives the agency leeway to release records that might fall under an exemption, if it believes the records could serve the public good.
Pennsylvania municipalities and agencies should take a cue from Holder: Government records, with limited exceptions, belong to the people.
Not only does Pennsylvania's new law say that records are presumed open, it also gives the agency leeway to release records that might fall under an exemption, if it believes the records could serve the public good.
Pennsylvania municipalities and agencies should take a cue from Holder: Government records, with limited exceptions, belong to the people.
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