Public Citizen v. Department of State
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
276 F.3d 634 (2002)

- Written by Darius Dehghan, JD
Facts
Public Citizen (plaintiff) filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for various State Department (defendant) records. In responding to FOIA requests, the State Department generally declined to search for documents produced after the date of the requester’s letter. The State Department adopted this cutoff policy without following the notice-and-comment procedures. Public Citizen brought suit, arguing that the State Department was required to follow the notice-and-comment procedures. The district court found that the State Department’s cutoff policy was a procedural rule that was exempt from the notice-and-comment procedures. Public Citizen appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Tatel, J.)
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