Journalists and First Amendment advocates faced discouraging news last week when VICE News reporter Jason Leopold pulled back the curtain on secret attempts to hamstring open records laws in the United States.
Leopold, who's been hailed by The New York Times and others for his skill at prying secrets from the government, disclosed that the Obama administration worked behind the scenes to torpedo a bill that would have sped and streamlined public records requests made under the Freedom of Information Act.
His scoop — ironically scored through a FOIA request — showed that the White House and the Department of Justice worked to undermine the passage of the FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014, which initially passed with bipartisan support but ultimately died in the legislature. Continue…
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