21
votes
Accepted
Who Has the Right to Access State Voter Records and How May That Right be Expediently Exercised?
In most US states, anyone can buy such lists, covering either the whole state or a specific municipality or election district. Political campaigns routinely buy such lists and use them to organize ...
- 115k
18
votes
What does "Congress having occupied the field" mean?
There are a number of areas in which the US states can pass laws only to the extend that they do not conflict with Federal laws passed by Congress. When a federal law clearly says that states may not ...
- 115k
10
votes
Accepted
Are causes of death public information?
Governmental disclosure of information on death certificates is controlled by state law. In Washington, vital records are controlled by RCW 70.58A. §520 limits the possible recipients of such records. ...
- 217k
10
votes
What does "Congress having occupied the field" mean?
"Occupying the field" refers to a situation in where federal regulation of a matter is "so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to ...
- 61.8k
8
votes
Are causes of death public information?
Because Ms. Charles was in New York, her death certificate is not a public record under Section 4174(1)(a) of the Public Health Law, and the report of any autopsy that may have occurred is also exempt ...
- 61.8k
4
votes
Who Has the Right to Access State Voter Records and How May That Right be Expediently Exercised?
In the US it is up to individual states to manage the voting system for their own states (it is not a function of the Federal Government), so the exact rules vary by state. So there can be no one ...
- 577
4
votes
Is it allowed to share propaganda materials for educational purposes? Materials that incite violence and justify killing of certain people?
united-states
In the US it is not unlawful to produce and display a video arguing for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, whether the intent is to support that invasion or to document the claims of those ...
- 115k
4
votes
Is the use of a former hotel site as asylum seekers’ accommodation exempt from public disclosure under FOIA or EIR?
The question is about the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, a UK statutory instrument implementing Directive 2003/4/EC, itself made for EU compliance with the Aarhus Convention of 1998. The ...
- 8,512
3
votes
Is it allowed to share propaganda materials for educational purposes? Materials that incite violence and justify killing of certain people?
The essential legal question is whether "political necessity" constitutes an exception to copyright law. The simple answer is, no it does not. The closest that you can come is appealing to ...
- 217k
3
votes
Which court to challenge the reply from the UK prime minister?
The UK Law (Freedom of Information Act 2000) has a defined appeals process.
Appeal against notices served under Part IV. (1)Where a decision
notice has been served, the complainant or the public ...
- 7,699
3
votes
Accepted
How much effort could have gone into composing the judgement for Meads v. Meads?
Judges don't have timesheet entries (and are often expressly excluded from FOIA obligations). They get paid salaries and are expected to work hard enough to clear their dockets in reasonable periods ...
- 240k
3
votes
Accepted
Where does the name Freedom of Information Act arise from?
The original law was 80 Stat 383, PL 89-554, which is a massive reorganization of the structure of federal agencies. It created title 5 entitled "Government Organization and Employees". The ...
- 217k
3
votes
In the UK, can documents obtained through Freedom of Information be shared with friends?
united-states
In the United States, information released through the federal Freedom of Information (FoI) process, or any of the various state-level versions of FoI, is considered public information. ...
- 115k
3
votes
Are there states that don't require having a family name?
australia
There is no limitation on the number of names you can have so long as it is at least 1. You cannot have a prohibited name (NSW Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995, other ...
- 227k
2
votes
Accepted
How much can I see, of a dissolution of marriage filed in Alameda County, California?
Legally, you have a right under both common law and the First Amendment to access virtually all of the court's records in the case. Courthouse News Serv. v. Planet, 750 F.3d 776, 786 (9th Cir. 2014) (“...
- 61.8k
2
votes
Accepted
Why aren't Cabinet meeting records released after 20 years?
They are
Well, almost. They are in the process of reducing the time from 30 to 20 years by doing 2 years at a time between 2013 and 2022 - right now it’s a 23 year rule.
I guess you found a webpage ...
- 227k
2
votes
Accepted
How does a subject access request differ from a freedom of information request?
There are two main differences between a SAR and a FOI request. A subject access request is about your personal data held by any organization, whereas a freedom of information request is a more ...
- 2,356
2
votes
Where does the name Freedom of Information Act arise from?
In the united-states Congress just CHOSE it as the title of the Law's amendment
The Freedom of Information Act - colloquially shortened to FOIA - is (today) technically 5 U.S.C. § 552. This law lays ...
- 45.2k
2
votes
Is there a volume limit on FOIA requests? Could I effectively request every police report?
First note that HHS is a federal agency, and "the police" are not a federal agency. You have to look into the law governing the specific agency. At the federal level, this is controlled by 5 ...
- 217k
1
vote
How to get a criminal case moving forward as a victim of a crime?
This is a matter of police discretion
First, allow me to sympathise with how frightening and disturbing that incident must have been.
Since you mention Chick Fil A, you are either in the US or Canada, ...
- 227k
1
vote
Is it allowed to share propaganda materials for educational purposes? Materials that incite violence and justify killing of certain people?
in germany the shape matters
The simple case
Let's assume we have a video made by an organization advocating for a war of agression and you copy it wholesale, without commentary.
You got into a ...
- 45.2k
1
vote
Is there a volume limit on FOIA requests? Could I effectively request every police report?
There are already multiple services collecting crime reports for individual ZIP codes, and within those for specific neighborhoods. I used such a service when buying a house several years ago. A ...
- 115k
1
vote
What statute or case law provides a right to access by the defendant if represented by appointed counsel?
Does Bob have a right to be presented such evidence or obtain a copy before a pre-trial conference, without his lawyer's co-operation?
Bob can't both be represented by a lawyer and represent himself ...
- 28.2k
1
vote
What statute or case law provides a right to access by the defendant if represented by appointed counsel?
Let's start with:
Bob's lawyer does not appear to be co-operating with Bob's wish to request the video.
Bob's lawyer does not have latitude to "not cooperate" with Bob. Bob is the client, ...
- 7,699
1
vote
FOI and Common Law right of access [US]
The common-law right of access to "agency" records is virtually nonexistent, and I know of no jurisdiction in the United States where invoking it would normally be successful. Instead, ...
- 61.8k
1
vote
Freezing funds with positive balance
Banks often freeze accounts when ownership appears to be disputed. While being a co-signer can provide authority to withdraw funds from an account, it only sometimes implies ownership of all of the ...
- 240k
1
vote
Can you be added to a watch list for asking?
There have been claims of government watch lists, some substantiated and some not, for decades. There is a specific database that does exist, the Terrorist Screening Database, which feeds almost a ...
- 217k
1
vote
Can Lavabit be suspended again?
They make no representations about the law or the efficacy of any encryption scheme. The current law authorizing forced-disclosure, 18 USC 2703, has been amended, but it is not clear what effect the ...
- 217k
1
vote
Are there states that don't require having a family name?
I don't like the family name appearing in my passport and will likely
change it in a bureaucratic procedure in an interior ministry
affiliated consulate (outside the borders of the state of which ...
- 240k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible