Material regarding Jeffrey Sessions speech to an anti-LGBT group
| Tracking # |
DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ) |
| Submitted | July 13, 2017 |
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Communications
From: Brandon Smith
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:
Any and all notes, outlines, prepared text, transcripts or recordings, of U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Sessions' speech to the group "Alliance Defending Freedom" on July 11, 2017.
For context about the engagement and the public records at issue, please see the news story whose URL follows. (Though please do not construe my request to be equivalent to any other journalists' request. I require all parts of my request to be filled in full.)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jeff-sessions-addresses-anti-lgbt-hate-group-doj/story?id=48593488
The requesters maintain that this engagement was state business; that Mr. Sessions was acting in his official capacity; and that the FOIA applies to records about the engagement for these reasons.
We request that this FOIA request be granted expedited treatment because the information contained within the documents at issue is substantially in the public interest and because the public has an urgent need to know about actual or alleged government activity, in this case, the Attorney General's speech to a group long assigned status as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. For the public affected by Mr. Sessions' positions on issues--a very large swath of public indeed--what Mr. Sessions says to special interest groups about his positions (interpretations of laws and so forth) provides insight into past and future policy decisions he may make. For example, individuals' standing in court likely depends on certain positions held by Mr. Sessions. For your information, we have permission to publish an article based on documents we would receive from this FOIA request at the Washington Post.
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 our request for expedited processing within 10 business days, as the statute requires, and for the request as a whole, within 20 business days.
Sincerely,
Brandon Smith and Sydney Combs
From: OIP-NoReply
Good Afternoon,
Attached is this Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy acknowledgment of the above-referenced FOIA requests.
Thank you,
-----------------------------------------
Initial Request Staff
Office of Information Policy
U.S. Department of Justice
202-514-3642 (Main Line)
202-514-1009 (Fax)
From: OIP-NoReply
Good Afternoon,
Attached is this Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy acknowledgment of the above-referenced FOIA requests.
Thank you,
-----------------------------------------
Initial Request Staff
Office of Information Policy
U.S. Department of Justice
202-514-3642 (Main Line)
202-514-1009 (Fax)
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ).
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ).
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 request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ).
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 request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ).
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 request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ).
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 request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ).
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 request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ).
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 July 13, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #DOJ - 2017 - 005 419 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 005638 (PAO), DOJ - 2017 - 005420 (AG), DOJ - 2017 - 00 5640 ( PAO ).
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
Good morning Mr. Smith and Ms. Combs,
This is regarding your inquiry dated March 28, 2018 pertaining to your FOIA request referenced above. I apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry, but I have just received it today. Regarding your request, the search is still pending due to our significant backlog of requests. Accordingly, I am unable to provide you with an estimated date of response with any accuracy, but I would be happy to answer any questions you have regarding the processing of this request. Please feel free to call my direct line below.
Thank you for your time,
Eric Hotchkiss
Government Information Specialist
Office of Information Policy
202-616-5456
From: Brandon Smith
Hi, Eric.
I have a question: how is it that you, presumably the responding officer, just received the request on 4-16-18? We have a letter, signed by OIP senior counsel Vanessa R. Brinkmann, sent to us on 7-27-17 and dated the same day, acknowledging the office's receipt of our request. Since you're in OIP, I probably don't have to remind you that the statute's deadline countdown doesn't start when the right person gets ahold of an email; rather when an agency itself takes receipt of a request.
Also, FOIA caselaw more than provides for an estimated time of completion for any pending request. Considering the unnecessary and possibly unlawful internal delay of nearly 10 months, I formally request you place this request in an expedited track for completion. Please promptly let me know of your decision on this matter.
Sincerely,
Brandon Smith
From: Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
Good morning Mr. Smith and Ms. Combs,
Attached is an email chain dated April 17, 2018 which includes our emails dated April 16, 2018 regarding the same question. I apologize that I did not include both email addresses associated with your request in my email of April 17, 2018. I invite you to call my direct line (202-616-5456) so that I can more fulsomely explain the status of your request; I believe our miscommunication stems from the limitations of email. In short, the search is still pending. This delay is due to our significant backlog of requests. I would be happy to explain our search process as well as answer any questions you may have regarding our FOIA process in general.
Regarding an estimated date of completion, because the search is still pending for your request I cannot answer with any accuracy. Using averages from our FY17 annual report (available here: https://www.justice.gov/oip/page/file/1024611/download), the average completion time for a complex request (your request's current track) is 331.66 days for requests in the Office of the Attorney General and 352.93 days for the Office of Public Affairs. These are the two Offices for which your request is being processed. Absent any information regarding the volume of material that is responsive to your request I cannot provide a more accurate estimate.
Regarding your request to be placed in the expedited track, your request for expedited processing was denied via our acknowledgement letter dated July 27, 2017 which you reference. Information on submitting an administrative appeal of that denial is contained in the last paragraph of that letter.
Again, I please ask that you call as I find those who do call come away with a much better understanding of what goes into responding to their FOIA request. I pride myself in taking the time to ensure that you understand everything that your request entails.
Thanks again for your time,
Eric Hotchkiss
Government Information Specialist
Office of Information Policy
202-616-5456
-
~WRD155
From: Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
Good morning,
The attached interim response was sent out last week while I was out of the Office. Given our past miscommunications regarding your requests I wanted to make sure that you both received this response so I am sending again. Please disregard if you've already received it.
Thanks again!
Eric Hotchkiss
Government Information Specialist
Office of Information Policy
202-616-5456
From: Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
Attached is correspondence from the Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy, which is associated with the above-referenced Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Please do not reply to this e-mail, as this account is not monitored.
Thank you,
-----------------------------------------
Initial Request Staff
Office of Information Policy
U.S. Department of Justice
202-514-3642 (Main Line)
202-514-1009 (Fax)
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