American University's Washington College of Law hosted a day-long forum on the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, the 1966 law granting U.S. citizens access to information held by the federal government.
The day's highlights included a key note speech by Susan B. Long, co-director of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University and this year's recipient of the Robert Vaughn FOIA Legend Award.
Richard L. Huff, co-founder of the Justice Department's Office of Information and Privacy, delivered the luncheon address, a historical overview of FOIA.
The morning panels looked at the progress of the Office of Government Information Services and survey high-visibility FOIA cases making their way through the courts.
During the afternoon, panels examined FOIA issues in the 112th Congress and the use, or over-use, of "Exemption 3," which allows other federal statues to limit the release of information sought in FOIA requests.