DOJ Urges Court to Dismiss Judicial Watch FOIA Suit Against FCC Over Obama Title II Records
DOJ asked a court to throw out Judicial Watch's complaint alleging the FCC failed to respond to the group's Freedom of Information Act requests on possible Obama administration influence on the 2015 net neutrality and Communications Act Title II broadband…
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order. Judicial Watch failed "to state a claim upon which relief may be granted," and a "claim is moot" because the commission responded to the FOIA requests and certain records are protected by FOIA exemptions, said a DOJ/FCC filing (in Pacer) Monday to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Judicial Watch v. FCC, No. 17-cv-00933 (APM). The filing cited other defenses, including that the commission "denies each and every allegation" in the complaint except as expressly admitted. The FCC admitted that as of May 17, when the complaint was filed, it hadn't produced the requested documents or provided related explanations, but the agency responded May 31 to Judicial Watch's second document request with 28 pages of records, redacting information to protect personal privacy under FOIA Exemption 6. The commission responded on Aug. 9 and Sept. 6 to Judicial Watch's first request with 2,376 pages of records but withheld certain documents "subject to FOIA exemption 4 (concerning privileged and confidential commercial information) and/or Exemption 5 (concerning inter-agency and intra-agency records that fall within the scope of the deliberative process privilege)." Judicial Watch didn't comment Tuesday.