Attorney General Gonzales should revisit Ashcroft FOIA memo

[struggle4progress]

by Stephen Gidiere
for National Sunshine Week

(March 13): The nomination and confirmation of Alberto Gonzales .. proved a lightning rod for criticism of .. Bush Administration policies. The .. definition of torture, abusive treatment of prisoners in Iraq, .. and other controversial topics played center stage at Gonzales' confirmation hearing ...

One topic that attracted less attention .. was public access to executive branch information under the Freedom of Information Act. Gonzales faced questioning from Sen. Patrick Leahy .. on several FOIA-related topics ...

One question involved an October 2001 policy memorandum on FOIA .. issued to all federal agencies by Attorney General Ashcroft ... In .. questions .. to Gonzales, Leahy queried whether he would reverse the positions taken in the memo ... The Ashcroft Memo says that the Justice Department will defend agencies' decisions to withhold documents from a FOIA requester under one of the statute's exemptions "unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records." Leahy is .. co-sponsor of the Open Government Act of 2005, which would allow less agency withholding in many circumstances and seeks to reverse the trend toward secrecy that many believe the Ashcroft Memo encourages.

Gonzales responded that .. he would "undertake an examination of the department's policies and practices concerning FOIA disclosures." Presumably, Gonzales' examination will include an evaluation of the Ashcroft Memo. It should. <snip>

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