ACLU v. FBI - FOIA - Memorandum and Order on March 31, 2015

In May 2011, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Justice Department seeking information about the government's use and interpretation of Patriot Act Section 215, which authorizes the government to obtain “any tangible thing” that is “relevant to” a terrorism investigation. Our subsequent FOIA lawsuit to enforce the request compelled the government to release dozens of documents, although many others were withheld from the ACLU and the public. The ACLU continued to fight for additional disclosures concerning the government’s use of Section 215 to secretly collect Americans’ information in bulk, but the district court eventually granted the government’s motion for summary judgment in March 2015.