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This brief argues that the Freedom of Information Act does authorize private lawsuits to enforce the publication provision, and that the courts do have authority to order agencies to comply with it.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the National ACLU and ACLU-DC requested records providing information about people BOP moved to home confinement under the CARES Act, and for any DOJ and BOP policies implementing the OLC Memorandum.
Deon Jones, a gay man, has been employed by the D.C. Dept. of Corrections for more than two decades, where he has endured pervasive acts of harassment based on his sexual orientation. The lawsuit describes how Sgt. Jones faced constant harassment from co-workers and incarcerated persons alike.
When people are arrested, the police take their belongings, then generally give them back upon release unless the property is evidence. But the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has a different practice for arrestees’ cell phones.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds thousands of immigrants in detention facilities across the United States. It is required to report all deaths of detainees in its custody, to investigate those deaths, and to release those investigatory reports.
Apparently recognizing that a law making “communicat[ion]” a crime risks the prosecution of speech protected by the First Amendment, the law provides that “[t]his section does not apply to constitutionally protected activity.” But the D.C. Court of Appeals has never explained what that means.