Civil Division
Freedom Of Information Act/Privacy Act Litigation
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) generally provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, to request access to federal agency records or information. All agencies of the United States government are required to disclose records upon receiving a written request, except for those records (or portions of them) that are protected from disclosure by one of nine exemptions or one of three special law enforcement record exclusions.
The Privacy Act of 1974 is a companion to the FOIA. The Privacy Act allows most individuals to seek access to federal agency records about themselves, subject to its 10 exemptions to disclosure. It also gives citizens the right to request an amendment if a nonexempt record is inaccurate, irrelevant, untimely, or incomplete, and to sue the government for permitting others to see their files unless specifically permitted by the law.
There is no one office of the federal government that handles all FOIA and Privacy Act requests. Each request must be made to the particular agency that has the records that you want. FOIA and Privacy Act requests served on the U.S. Attorney's Office are forwarded to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, processes and responds to the requests.
Both the FOIA and Privacy Act provide for administrative and judicial appeals if a requester disagrees with the decision made by an agency. A requester has the right to administratively appeal any adverse determination an agency makes on his or her FOIA or Privacy Act request. If an administrative appeal is denied, a requester has the right to appeal the denial in federal court. The Civil Division defends lawsuits filed by requesters in the Eastern District of Louisiana.