Freedom of information in the United States results from

freedom of information legislation Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfa ...

at the

federal level Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

and in the fifty states.

Federal level

The federal government is bound by several laws intended to promote openness in government. However, these normally apply only to federal bodies, leaving many institutions exempt compared to their counterparts in other countries.

Federal legislation

The most important was the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

, signed into law on July 4, 1966, by President Lyndon Johnson. * Administrative Procedure Actbr>PL 79-404; 1946
*

br>PL 85-619; 1966
*

Federal Advisory Committee Act The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (), is a United States federal law which governs the behavior of federal advisory committees. In particular, it has special emphasis on open meetings, chartering, public involvement, and reporting. The U.S. ...

br>PL 92-463; 1972
* Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Actbr>PL 93-344; 1974
*

Government in the Sunshine Act The Government in the Sunshine Act (, ) is a U.S. law passed in 1976 that affects the operations of the federal government, Congress, federal commissions, and other legally constituted federal bodies. It is one of a number of Freedom of In ...

br>PL 94-409; 1976
* Inspector General Actbr>PL 95-452; 1978
*

Ethics in Government Act The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is a United States federal law that was passed in the wake of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. It was intended to fight corruption in government. Summary The Ethics in Governme ...

br>PL 95-521; 1978
*

Presidential Records Act The Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978, , is an Act of the United States Congress governing the official records of Presidents and Vice Presidents created or received after January 20, 1981, and mandating the preservation of all presidentia ...

br>PL 95-591; 1978
* Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendmentsbr>PL 104-231; 1996

Proposed legislation

* FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014 (H.R. 1211; 113th Congress) - would amend the FOIA to speed up the response time and ease of making a "FOIA request", among other changes.

Miscellaneous Authoritative Federal Sources

Executive Order 13233 Executive Order 13233 limited access to the records of former United States Presidents to a higher degree than the previous Order 12667, which it superseded. It was drafted by then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and issued by George W. ...

, drafted by

Alberto R. Gonzales Alberto R. Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) is an American lawyer who served as the 80th United States Attorney General, appointed in February 2005 by President George W. Bush, becoming the highest-ranking Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic ...

and issued by

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

on November 1, 2001, is used to limit the FOIA by restricting access to the records of former presidents. *

Executive Order 13392 Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dire ...

: Improving Agency Disclosure of Information.

U.S. Attorney General Memorandums

History

The Holder Memo is part of series of policy memos on how federal agencies should apply FOIA exemptions. Beginning in 1977 with Attorney General

Griffin Bell Griffin Boyette Bell (October 31, 1918 – January 5, 2009) was the 72nd Attorney General of the United States, having served under President Jimmy Carter. Previously, he was a U.S. circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fift ...

, and continued by Attorney General

William French Smith William French Smith II (August 26, 1917 – October 29, 1990) was an American lawyer and the 74th United States Attorney General. After attaining his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1942, Smith went on to join the law firm of Gibson, Du ...

in 1981 and Attorney General

Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...

in 1993, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced how the executive branch should approach FOIA, its application, and DOJ's defense of agency's actions. In other words, DOJ's position on when they would defend in a FOIA suit has seesawed for about the last three decades.

=Reno Memo

= The Reno Memo established a "presumption" in favor of disclosure by providing that "it shall be the policy of the Department of Justice to defend the assertion of a FOIA exemption only in those cases where the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by that exemption". It encouraged all government agencies to review FOIA requests in a manner most favorable to openness and to release information, even though it might fall within one of the nine exemption categories, if no "foreseeable harm" would result from the disclosure. The goal was to achieve the "maximum responsible disclosure".

=Ashcroft Memo

= On October 12, 2001, Attorney General

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...

issued a policy memorandum on FOIA to all federal executive agencies. The AG declared the Department of Justice (DOJ) would defend agencies' decisions to withhold documents from a FOIA requester under one of the statute's exemptions "unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records". The Ashcroft Memorandum reversed the Reno standard. Agencies were told that in making discretionary FOIA decisions they should carefully consider the fundamental values behind the exemptions—national security, privacy, government's interests, etc.—and to lean in their favor whenever possible. The Ashcroft Memo with its "sound legal basis" standard encouraged (or at least seemed to support) greater use of FOIA exemptions by federal agency personnel.

=AG Holder Memo

= The Ashcroft Memo was rescinded by Attorney General

Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African Amer ...

on March 14, 2009. The AG Holder Memo appears to have reinstated the Reno Memo standard and extends the policy. The policy of the executive branch is to be open, responsive, transparent, and accountable. The current memo encourages the maximum disclosure possible in discretionary exemptions and to, whenever possible, reasonably segregate exempt information and release the rest.

State legislation

All fifty

U.S. states In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

also have freedom of information laws that govern documents at state and local levels. States have various laws requiring that meetings convened by government agencies be open to the public and sufficiently advertised; these are known as open meeting laws. The provisions of these laws vary considerably by state. Florida, Ohio, and Vermont are known for having pro-access freedom of information laws. Florida was one of the first states to enact an open-government "Sunshine Law". (Florida's nickname is "The Sunshine State".) Other jurisdictions, such as Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, were until recently known for being relatively non-transparent but have since made significant changes to their open government laws to foster greater public access to information. On April 29, 2013, in the case of , the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

found that Virginia's Freedom of Information Act, which grants only Virginia citizens access to public records and does not grant any such right to non-Virginians, does not violate the

Privileges and Immunities Clause The Privileges and Immunities Clause ( U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1, also known as the Comity Clause) prevents a state from treating citizens of other states in a discriminatory manner. Additionally, a right of interstate ...

(which only protects those privileges and immunities that are "fundamental") or the

Commerce Clause The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amon ...

(specifically, the

Dormant Commerce Clause The Dormant Commerce Clause, or Negative Commerce Clause, in American constitutional law, is a legal doctrine that courts in the United States have inferred from the Commerce Clause in Article I of the US Constitution. The primary focus of the d ...

doctrine) of the United States Constitution. State specific laws include: * California Public Records Act * Illinois Freedom of Information Act * Missouri Sunshine Law * Tennessee Open Records Act * Texas Public Information Act * Utah Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) * Washington Public Records Act

References

External links

Freedom of Information Act Resources compiled by LLSDC.org

Cross-state comparison of FOIA laws

The WikiFOIAThe Freedom of Information Center at the University of MissouriThe Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida College of Journalism and CommunicationsCitizen Access Project: Guide to Moving to Texas

The Open Government Guide of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press

The National Freedom of Information CoalitionRead Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding the Freedom of Information ActU.S. Dept of Justice FOIA Guide
{{Freedom of information Law of the United States Classified information