FOIA Coordinator by Edward Vielmetti

Second Circuit affirms Bloomberg v Fed ruling

Scott Hodes writes The FOIA Blog; he caught this news when it happened in August, regarding Bloomberg's case vs the Federal Reserve Board of Governors:

In March of 2010, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the Federal Reserve ("Fed") to release to Bloomberg, plaintiff in the FOIA lawsuit, details of its emergency lending program it used in 2008.  The Fed appealed to the entire court (for non lawyers, this is called an en banc appeal).  The decision of the full court was recently made, and it affirmed the earlier decision of the three judge panel. 

The decision hinged on an interpretation of Federal FOIA exemption 4.  I haven't done enough Federal FOIA, especially enough to get into exemption territory, to give this more justice.  You might look at the reporting from RCFP, the amicus brief, and the March appellate ruling for background on this particular step in the case, and my previous writing on Bloomberg vs Board of Governors for deeper background (that's for me and not just for you).

 

NY Times updated on Bloomberg v Board of Governors FOIA case over Fed secrecy

NY Times "Battle Over the Bailout" on the FOIA case Bloomberg v Board of Governors.

“Pittman was this big shlumpy guy and he was wandering around going, ‘Argh argh argh,’ ” Ms. Bennett said recently. “So we asked him, ‘What’s with your FOIA?’ And Mark says — he used some colorful language — ‘They won’t answer us.’ ” “That was when we all sat down and said, ‘So what do we do? They can’t just get away with not answering us,’ ” Ms. Bennett recalled. “Charles said, ‘You know, I suppose we could just sue the Fed.’ So we went to Matt” — Matthew Winkler, Bloomberg’s executive editor — “and said, ‘What do you think about us suing the Fed?’ ” As she recounted this story, Ms. Bennett punched her left palm with her right fist — precisely, she explained, as Mr. Winkler had. She added, “He loved it.”

Bloomberg LP v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-09595

The case is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-09595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Relevant news reports and documents, and a timeline, most recent at the top; this is known to be incomplete.

Nov 9, Editorial: Bailout beneficiaries should be exposed, DelcoTimes

In October, the New York appeals court granted the Fed’s motion to keep the borrower information confidential while it seeks to overturn the lower court ruling. Dow Jones, the New York Times, the Associated Press, Gannett Newspapers, Hearst Advance Publications, the American Society of News Editors and the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press plan to side with Bloomberg by filing a friend-of-the-court brief. The Fed was joined in its litigation by a banking cooperative, The Clearing House Association LLC, which also opposes disclosure. The members of the Clearing House are: ABN Amro Bank NV; Bank of America Corp.; The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.; Citigroup Inc.; Deutsche Bank AG; HSBC Holdings PLC; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; US Bancorp; and Wells Fargo & Co. A hearing on the appeal is tentatively scheduled for the week of Jan. 4.

Nov. 7, 2009: Federal Reserve appeal, reported by Bloomberg News

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve said a U.S. judge erred in ruling that the central bank should identify companies that received emergency loans last year, according to court papers filed to overturn the decision.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska improperly used the standard of “imminent harm” to a borrower’s competitive position rather than a lesser standard of “likely harm,” according to papers filed yesterday by Fed lawyers led by Senior Counsel Yvonne Mizusawa.

Dec. 15, 2008: FOIA Request Docket via Scribd

Dec. 10, 2008: Bloomberg answer via OpenTheGovernment.org