The Slow Road: FOIA Litigation
New LLRX Column by Scott A. Hodes:
One of the reasons that FOIA litigation is disfavored by people is the time it takes for the lawsuit to actually result in a decision. Even before a lawsuit has been filed, the requester has usually spent some time waiting for the agency to make a decision on his or her initial request and then more time on an administrative appeal. Then, after a lawsuit is filed, various procedural things occur that can result in years of litigation before a court even reaches a decision on the documents requested in the first place. And even if the court orders the documents released, agencies commonly appeal the release order to an appeals court, resulting in an even longer wait. A number of recent active lawsuits serve as a good example of this.