Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Machado Amadis v. Dept. of Justice. The case presents the first opportunity for the D.C. Circuit to address the Freedom of Information Act’s new foreseeable harm standard, which was added as part of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. The brief outlines the legislative history of the new standard, noting that Congress was particularly concerned with overuse of Exemption 5. The brief urges the D.C. Circuit to interpret the foreseeable harm standard in this case consistent with its text, history, and purpose, in furtherance of Congress’s goal of curtailing Executive Branch secrecy when it passed the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. [2019]
