Sessions Justice

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Department of Justice - FOIA/PA Mail Referral Unit of the United States of America.

It is a clone of this request.

Tracking #

DOJ-2017-001472

Due Jan. 18, 2017
Est. Completion None
Status
Awaiting Response

Communications

From: Michael Best

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Records from 2015 and 2016 relating to or mentioning Jeff Sessions, including communications received from or sent to Mr. Sessions, as well as emails mentioning him.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities for AND Magazine, MuckRock and Glomar Disclosure and have an open arrangement with each. My articles have been widely read, 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 the non-profit Internet Archive, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance. Additionally, 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). Further, 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 itself are moot for the purposes of determining the appropriate fee category.

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,

Michael Best

From: MRUFOIA Requests

Sir/Madam,

Please see the attached response to your FOIA request. Please note, your request has been assigned tracking number EMRUFOIA121616-2.

Thank you,

MRU FOIA

From: OIP-NoReply@usdoj.gov

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d2810d7f9e)
* Tracking Number: DOJ-2017-001472
* Requester Name: Michael Best
* Date Submitted: 01/03/2017
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: FOIA Request

From: OIP-NoReply@usdoj.gov

Attached is this Office's acknowledgment of the above-referenced FOIA request.

From: Muckrock Staff

To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following request, copied below.

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.

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