Congressional requests, 2015-2017 (Department of Justice, United States Marshals)
| Tracking # |
2019-00170 |
| Multi Request | Congressional requests, 2015-2017 |
| Submitted | June 26, 2018 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Emma North-Best
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Copies of any requests for documents, information, briefings or testimony sent to either the director's office or the appropriate congressional liaison office between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017.
I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the Internet Archive and MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience.
Case law states that “proof of the ability to disseminate the released information to a broad cross- section of the public is not required.” Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Dep’t of Justice, 365 F.3d 1108, 1126 (D.C. Cir. 2004); see Carney v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 19 F.3d 807, 814-15 (2d Cir. 1994). Courts have held that "qualified because it also had “firm” plans to “publish a number of . . . ‘document sets’” concerning United States foreign and national security policy." Under this criteria, as well, I qualify as a member of the news media.
Additionally, courts have held that the news media status "focuses on the nature of the requester, not its request. The provision requires that the request be “made by” a representative of the news media. Id. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(II). A newspaper reporter, for example, is a representative of the news media regardless of how much interest there is in the story for which he or she is requesting information." As such, the details of the request are moot for the purposes of determining the fee category.
As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Emma Best
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 26, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 26, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 26, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 26, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 26, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 26, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals
Good Day,
The USMS FOIA is in receipt of your Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) of 28 November 2018. I do not see the request for 26 June 2018. The USMS FOIA is currently experiencing an Extreme backlog. Request will be processed in the order that they come in. We do not have an estimated completion date for your request. But know that we ae working as quickly as possible to process each request received.
Regards,
USMS FOIA ADMIN
-
~WRD000
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 26, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 26, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals
An acknowledgement letter, stating the request is being processed.
From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals
Good morning,
This is in regards to the attached request. The documents that you have requested are from the time period of January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017. Is there any way that you can narrow the scope of your request? Is there a specific topic that you are looking for? Anything to help us, would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Elaine M. Rivera
Government Information Specialist
Office of General Counsel
United States Marshals Service
CG-3, 15th Floor
Washington, DC 20530-1000
703.740.3973 (Direct Line)
From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals
Good morning,
The below email was sent April 10,2019 asking if you can narrow the scope of your request. I am reaching out to you, again, April 29, 2019 asking for a reply. Should I not hear from you within thirty (30) days from this final email, I will be forced to close your case due to being unresponsive. Please respond directly to me.
I hope to hear from you very soon and that you have a great day.
Thank you.
Elaine M. Rivera
Government Information Specialist
Office of General Counsel
United States Marshals Service
CG-3, 15th Floor
Washington, DC 20530-1000
From: Emma North-Best
No specific topics, and I already narrowed it down by the date range. It is not unreasonably broad or vague, regardless of the potential amount of potentially responsive records. Please reopen and process the request. Thank you so much!
From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals
Good afternoon,
I hope this email finds you safe and in good health.
Would you be able to narrow the scope on this request? I have been told the request is an extraordinarily broad inquiry for two years worth of data.
Thank you.
Elaine M. Rivera
Government Information Specialist
Office of General Counsel
United States Marshals Service
CG-3, 15th Floor
Washington, DC 20530-1000
703.740.3973 (Direct Line)
NOTICE: This email (including any attachments) is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain information that is privileged, confidential, or otherwise protected by applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient (or the recipient's agent), you are hereby notified that unauthorized dissemination, distribution, copying, or use of this email or its contents is prohibited and may violate applicable law. If you received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy all copies.
From: Department of Justice, United States Marshals
Good afternoon,
I hope this email finds you safe and in good health.
An email was sent to you in July asking for you to narrow the scope of your request. The email is attached for your reference. Please let me know if you can narrow the scope since I am being told this is overly burdensome.
Thank you.
Elaine M. Rivera
Government Information Specialist
Office of General Counsel
United States Marshals Service
CG-3, 15th Floor
Washington, DC 20530-1000
703.740.3973 (Direct Line)
NOTICE: This email (including any attachments) is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain information that is privileged, confidential, or otherwise protected by applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient (or the recipient's agent), you are hereby notified that unauthorized dissemination, distribution, copying, or use of this email or its contents is prohibited and may violate applicable law. If you received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy all copies.
From: Emma North-Best
Per Shapiro v. CIA, No. 14-00019, 2016 WL 1069646 (D.D.C. Mar. 17, 2016) (Cooper, J.), the request is not unduly burdensome. Per the court's ruling, "[r]egardless of how onerous it might be to locate them, [when] there can be no dispute about which items are being requested" the request is reasonably described.
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