NEW LAWSUIT: We’re suing the CDC over its illegal practice of rejecting valid #FOIA requests — including requests related to the coronavirus pandemic.
americanoversight.org/the-cdc-has-be…
americanoversight.org/the-cdc-has-be…
We’re asking the court to order the CDC to comply with the law and to stop groundlessly rejecting requests it deems “overly broad.” Our suit cites CDC’s inadequate response to several recent #FOIA’s related to coronavirus. Here are a few examples.
On March 17, we FOIA’d emails from six specific CDC officials containing any of 43 key terms related to the coronavirus. These included “coronavirus,” “COVID 19,” “Wuhan,” “hoax,” “vaccine,” and “quarantine.” 
CDC responded on March 19 and told us our request was “Too Broad.” We responded the next day, but CDC lost or misfiled this response and closed the request a month later.
After we asked about the status of its request, CDC re-opened it, only to issue a still-too-broad letter two weeks later. Only after we pushed back again did CDC agree to run a search.
On March 5, we requested documents regarding coronavirus testing and asked for expedited processing by citing the urgent need to inform the public about Covid-19.
The CDC told us our “request is vague.” We pushed back, but CDC again lost or misfiled our response, resulting in an additional nearly month-long delay before CDC agreed to process our request.
On March 18, we requested emails sent by six CDC officials containing any of 34 key terms related to coronavirus testing. These included “LabCorp,” “World Health Organization,” “Testing,” and “Seattle Flu study.”
In response, the CDC claimed our search terms were “overly broad” and suggested ways American Oversight could reduce the volume of responsive records.”
These are just some examples of CDC’s “policy, pattern, or practice of declining to process reasonably described FOIA requests...based on CDC’s assumptions regarding the potential volume of responsive records, and not CDC’s staff’s ability to identify responsive records.”
Under law, federal agencies must complete searches for FOIA requests that are “reasonably described.” As long as an agency can grasp what a requester is seeking, it has an obligation to search for records regardless of phrasing or the number of potentially responsive pages.
CDC’s responses are part of a broader trend of agencies failing to uphold their legal obligations under FOIA during the coronavirus pandemic. Yet FOIA is essential to documenting the government’s coronavirus response.
nytimes.com/2020/05/12/opi…
nytimes.com/2020/05/12/opi…
American Oversight has already filed more than 400 public records requests with federal and state government agencies to investigate the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus. This is the fifth lawsuit filed by American Oversight as part of that effort.
