THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA)- A LEGAL OVERVIEW
This course provides an overview of The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.
First, the course examines key terms that dictate the scope of agencies’ disclosure obligations under FOIA. The course then provides an overview of FOIA’s three disclosure requirements.
Following that discussion, we’ll review each of FOIA’s nine exemptions, and in a later section, its three records exclusions.
After an overview of selected issues, concerning judicial review of agency decisions to withhold information under FOIA, this course discusses two other topics: FOIA’s “special access” provision which provides that FOIA does not authorize agencies “to withhold information from Congress” and the status of congressional records under FOIA.
Lastly, this course discusses three other laws that, like FOIA, govern the availability of specific types of government information, and constitute significant elements of the federal government’s open government and information legal regimes: the Federal Advisory Committee Act; Government in the Sunshine Act; and Privacy Act.