Freedom of Information Act (United States)

Freedom of Information Act

Acronyms (colloquial)	FOIA
Nicknames	Public Information Act of 1966 Public Information Availability
Enacted by	the 89th United States Congress
Effective	July 5, 1967
Citations
Public law	89-487
Statutes at Large	80 Stat. 250
Codification
Acts amended	Administrative Procedure Act
Titles amended	5 U.S.C.: Government Organization and Employees
U.S.C. sections created	5 U.S.C. ch. 5, subch. II § 552
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 1160 by Edward Long (D–MO) on October 4, 1965 Committee consideration by Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Government Operations Passed the Senate on October 13, 1965 (passed) Passed the House on June 20, 1966 (306–0[1]) Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 4, 1966
Major amendments
Privacy Act of 1974, PL 93–579, 88 Stat 1896 Government in the Sunshine Act, PL 94–409, 90 Stat 1241 Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, PL 99–570, 100 Stat 3207 Electronic Freedom of Information Act of 1996 The Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002, PL 107-306, 116 Stat 2383 OPEN Government Act of 2007, PL 110-175, 121 Stat 2524 Wall Street Reform Act of 2010 FOIA Improvement Act of 2016
United States Supreme Court cases
Renegotiation Board v. Bannercraft Clothing Co., 415 U.S. 1 (1974) Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration v. Robertson, 422 U.S. 255 (1975) Department of Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352 (1976) National Labor Relations Board v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214 (1978) Chrysler Corp. v. Brown, 441 U.S. 281 (1979) Federal Open Market Committee of Federal Reserve System v. Merrill, 443 U.S. 340 (1979) Kissinger v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of Press, 445 U.S. 136 (1980) Forsham v. Harris, 445 U.S. 169 (1980)} Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U.S. 102 (1980) Baldrige v. Shapiro, 455 U.S. 345 (1982) United States Department of State v. Washington Post Co., 456 U.S. 595 (1982) Federal Bureau of Investigation v. Abramson, 456 U.S. 615 (1982) Federal Trade Commission v. Grolier Inc., 462 U.S. 19 (1983) United States v. Weber Aircraft Corp., 465 U.S. 792 (1984) Department of Justice v. Provenzano, 469 U.S. 14 (1984) Central Intelligence Agency v. Sims, 471 U.S. 159 (1985) Church of Scientology v. Internal Revenue Service, 484 U.S. 9 (1987) Department of Justice v. Julian, 486 U.S. 1 (1988) Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749 (1989) United States Department of Justice v. Tax Analysts, 492 U.S. 136 (1989) John Doe Agency v. John Doe Corp., 493 U.S. 146 (1989) United States Department of State v. Ray, 502 U.S. 164 (1991) Department of Justice v. Landano, 508 U.S. 165 (1993) United States Department of Defense v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 510 U.S. 487 (1994) Bibles, Oregon Director, Bureau of Land Management v. Oregon Natural Desert Association, 519 U.S. 355 (1997) Department of Interior v. Klamath Water Users Protective Assn., 532 U.S. 1 (2001) National Archives & Records Administration v. Favish, 541 U.S. 157 (2004) Taylor v. Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880 (2008) FCC v. AT&T Inc., 562 U.S. 397 (2011) Milner v. Department of Navy, 562 U.S. 562 (2011) Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk, 563 U.S. 401 (2011) Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, No. 18-481, 588 U.S. ___ (2019) United States Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, No. 19-547, 592 U.S. ___ (2021)

Administrative law of the United States
General
Rulemaking Notice of proposed rulemaking Adjudication Administrative law judge Code of Federal Regulations Federal Register
Statutory framework
Administrative Procedure Act Freedom of Information Act NEPA GSA NEA IGA RFA PRA UMRA CRA FVRA
Regulatory coordination
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrative Conference Executive orders Cost–benefit analysis (Executive Order 12866)
Judicial review of agency action
Arbitrary and capricious State Farm Chevron deference Auer deference Committed to agency discretion Due process Londoner Bi-Metallic Goldberg Mathews Exhaustion Major questions doctrine Nationwide injunction Ripeness Abbott Labs Standing Lujan
Separation of powers
Appointments Clause Freytag Noel Canning Congressional oversight Authorization Organic statute Appropriation Hearings Senate confirmation Independent agencies Humphrey's Executor Seila Law Unitary executive theory Legislative veto Chadha Nondelegation
Related areas of law (and agencies)
Antitrust and competition FTC CPSC CFPB Banking Treasury OCC FDIC FRB Communication FCC Energy DOE FERC Environment EPA FWS Food FDA CDC Health care HHS Immigration DHS EOIR Labor DOL NLRB Patent/trademark PTO Securities SEC CFTC Taxation IRS TC Trade DOC ITC Transportation DOT STB NTSB Social Security SSA
Related topics
Constitutional law Statutory interpretation
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The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA /ˈfɔɪjə/ FOY-yə), 5 U.S.C. § 552, is the United States federal freedom of information law that requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased or uncirculated information and documents controlled by the U.S. government upon request. The act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures, and includes nine exemptions that define categories of information not subject to disclosure.^[2][3] The act was intended to make U.S. government agencies' functions more transparent so that the American public could more easily identify problems in government functioning and put pressure on Congress, agency officials, and the president to address them.^[4] The FOIA has been changed repeatedly by both the legislative and executive branches.

The FOIA is commonly known for being invoked by news organizations for reporting purposes, though such uses make up less than 10% of all requests—which are more frequently made by businesses, law firms, and individuals.^[5]