Department of Justice (DOJ) – Page 2 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

US government secrecy making historical research difficult

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From Al Jazeera America: While much has been made of the government’s current penchant for secrecy, few have noticed that this atmosphere now shrouds government history as well.

Working on a biography of a noted Washington journalist, I placed a routine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2011 for her FBI file. The timing of my application seemed propitious. Two years earlier, President Barack Obama had signed an executive order to speed declassification of materials and had issued an encouraging FOIA memorandum.

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Press attorney contests DOJ argument to keep records confidential

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From Times-News: GRAHAM — An attorney representing the Alamance News has filed a motion in response to the U.S Department of Justice’s argument against providing documents covered by a joint confidentiality and protective order in its lawsuit against Sheriff Terry Johnson.

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ACLU sues DOJ, demands to know whether suspects were placed under NSA surveillance

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From The Daily Caller: The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Department of Justice in regards to whether a criminal suspect was placed under NSA surveillance.

On Thursday, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain the U.S. government policy for notifying criminal defendants that they are being monitored by the government.

Visit The Daily Caller for more.

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Justice Dept. watchdog never probed judges’ NSA concerns

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From USA Today: The Justice Department's internal ethics watchdog says it never investigated repeated complaints by federal judges that the government had misled them about the NSA's secret surveillance of Americans' phone calls and Internet communications.

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Govt to declassify some secret court opinions in response to FOIA lawsuit

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From ABC News: The Justice Department is declassifying portions of some secret court orders concerning the government's authority to seize records under the Patriot Act.

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Lawsuit filed to obtain copy of Senate committee’s torture report

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From Jason Leopold at The Public Record: Late Monday evening, I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice to obtain a copy of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA torture program.

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DOJ ordered to turn over documents in Ensign probe

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From TheHill.com: The Justice Department is being forced to hand over an index of every document amassed in its criminal investigation of former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.).

The federal court decision will grant the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) watchdog group a broad list of what documents the DOJ possesses and the reasons why Justice is arguing to withhold them from the public.

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US seeks to shield emails about emergency network

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From Miami Herald: IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Department of Justice obtained temporary legal relief Tuesday to block the release of emails to and from an Iowa sheriff who serves on a federal board charged with building a high-speed broadband network for emergency responders.

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DOJ: FBI has started to process Michael Hastings documents

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From Jason Leopold at Public Record: The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicated that the FBI has likely located responsive records pertaining to investigative journalist Michael Hastings, who died in a tragic car accident in Los Angeles in June, and the agency expects to finish processing the records in about three weeks.

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Sen. Feinstein wants to limit who can be a journalist

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From Watchdog.org: The most recent congressional threat to the free press in the United States comes from California Democrat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

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