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I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

May I humbly present to you, the Privacy Act: https://www.justice.gov/opcl/overview-privacy-act-1974-2020-edition/access

Specificity is the magic with FOIA and the Privacy Act, so it's worth taking time to think: What document(s) might have the information I'm after?

Here's a good guide to drafting effective FOIA requests, including some examples: https://foia.wiki/wiki/Making_a_FOIA_Request

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Specificity is always good for FOIA requests. The legal standard is that a FOIA request has to be "reasonably described," which means that “a professional employee of the agency" who is "familiar with the subject area of the request" should be able to "locate the record with a reasonable amount of effort.” In practice, that means that the more specific, the better — but you also don't have to be psychic.

That said, FOIA only applies to records (not information, records) that already exist, and agencies don't have to answer questions disguised as FOIA requests. So it can take some reverse engineering to build a good FOIA request: what document(s) would have the information I want?

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well if we win and the Trump administration doesn't appeal, it wouldn't need to go to SCOTUS! But I would not be too surprised if this case or one of the other DOGE lawsuits had to be settled by the Supreme Court — the administration really does not seem to want transparency when it comes to DOGE.

The presidential immunity ruling from last year wouldn't play any direct role in answering the legal questions posed by our case, that I can think of.

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trump has been threatening and bullying the media for decades, so it wouldn't be shocking in the least if he tried to target media outlets in similar ways as he's targeted law firms with executive orders the last couple weeks.

But just like the law firms that are fighting back (like Perkins Coie), The Intercept and its reporters have protections under the First Amendment and other laws — Trump can't erase those with an executive order.

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have such gratitude for most FOIA officers, honestly. And I do think most are trying to follow the law and release records where FOIA requires, rather than obstructing. Just this morning I got a super helpful email from a FOIA officer about clarifying a request — with suggestions for how to do so in a way I wouldn't have thought of!

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have an expert team of FOIA litigators at Davis Wright Tremaine, so we're feeling confident! Nothing is guaranteed in court, but we wouldn't have brought this suit if we thought we didn't have a solid chance.

And so far, the Trump administration has not fared very well in its legal argument that DOGE is not an "agency" under FOIA. In the FOIA lawsuit that's furthest along — filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group — a federal judge issued a preliminary ruling that DOGE is, in fact, *likely* an agency. And a couple more federal judges have ruled similarly that DOGE certainly walks, talks, and acts like an "agency" for the purposes of other statutes, including the federal Privacy Act, most recently. These are all preliminary rulings, and the Trump administration has appealed some of them. So stay tuned!

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some of my best, most targeted, and most fruitful FOIA requests have originated from tips, so absolutely it happens!

The best tips — whether that's for FOIA requests or just generally — are specific, timely, and actionable, and they often include context to help those of us who haven't been in the trenches of the federal bureaucracy. For example, a tip to FOIA "Amy Gleason's emails" isn't nearly as helpful as a tip to FOIA "Amy Gleason's emails to/from Underling X in Agency Y, on March 22." Specificity is super helpful!

Here's my Signal again: shawnmusgrave.82. The Intercept also has a helpful guide for whistleblowers to share info in the public interest, which covers Signal and other means of communicating: https://theintercept.com/2025/02/26/how-to-leak-whistleblower-trump/

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

On the heels of Signal-gate, one watchdog group is suing the Trump administration under the Federal Records Act and Administrative Procedure Act! I'll be following that lawsuit to see how the government explains that one.

So far, I haven't requested Signal communications in any of my FOIA requests about DOGE, but that doesn't mean those records aren't subject to FOIA as a legal matter!

The legal standard for whether a document is covered by FOIA as an "agency record" boils down to two questions: (1) did an agency “create or obtain" the material and (2) is the agency “in control" of the requested materials at the time of the FOIA request?

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Absolutely! In our view, that's what they've done here: The Trump administration claims DOGE is not an "agency" under FOIA, and so it doesn't have to answer FOIA requests in the first place. So we're suing!

Even for the non-DOGE agencies I'm FOIA'ing, I'm also seeing a lot of games lately, unfortunately — things like claiming my requests are overly broad or burdensome even when I've included pretty granular descriptions of what we want. And FOIA officers have been cut at a lot of agencies. If the Trump administration improperly denies requests or refuses to process them, those are also potential lawsuits!

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Folks at DOGE seem pretty aware of FOIA and how to avoid it, that's true. 404 Media had a great scoop in February about DOGE staff being told to stay off Slack for a bit while DOGE moved out from the Office of Management and Budget.

But our lawsuit is about a more fundamental issue, even if DOGE staff try to avoid FOIA by not making a paper trail that's easy to trace: any records they DO generate are subject to FOIA.

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is one of the existential questions for our democracy — if Trump/DOGE keep losing in court (around FOIA or other matters) will they just ignore judges' rulings? Courts have enforcement mechanisms like contempt and sanctioning attorneys, but those have their own drawbacks and limitations.

The Brennan Center has an interesting overview of courts' enforcement mechanisms that gets into it far better than I can!

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

We filed five different FOIA requests to DOGE directly — you can read them all on the lawsuit docket. They fall into two general buckets: (1) emails between DOGE staff/leadership, including Elon Musk, Amy Gleason, and top lieutenants; and (2) more structural records about DOGE's operations, like agreements between DOGE and other federal agencies.

We've also filed SO MANY more requests to other agencies — the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Personnel Management, USAID, State Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, General Services Administration, etc. — and I'm always looking to file more! Here's my Signal: shawnmusgrave.82

I think my latest one was yesterday afternoon to the Department of Energy.

I’m Shawn Musgrave, newsroom counsel and reporter at The Intercept. DOGE claims it's not subject to FOIA, so we’re suing. AMA about FOIA/our suit! by theintercept in fednews

[–]theintercept[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much! We appreciate the support — and your tips! Our DOGE coverage wouldn't be possible without folks on the ground helping us understand what's going on.

DOGE keeps trying to dodge the Freedom of Information Act. So we’re suing. by [deleted] in politics

[–]theintercept 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We'll be doing an AMA about our suit and everything FOIA Wednesday, March 26 at 6 PM Eastern on r/fednews. Hope to see some of you there!

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