U.S. Department
of Justice
Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act
The United States Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act is a comprehensive legal treatise on the FOIA. The Guide includes detailed discussions of the FOIA’s procedural requirements, nine exemptions, and litigation considerations. Each section contains a detailed analysis of the key judicial opinions issued on the FOIA.
Each chapter of the Guide will be updated by OIP on a rolling basis as significant new developments in FOIA occur. OIP’s Court Decisions page also provides a regularly updated review of significant FOIA decisions with detailed summaries searchable by key terms and topical categories.
All sections are available as Portable Document Format files, which may be viewed with a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Introduction (posted December 3, 2024)
- Structure of the FOIA (page 2)
- History of the FOIA (page 6)
- The Department of Justice’s FOIA Guidelines (page 11)
Proactive Disclosures (posted March 14, 2025)
Procedural Requirements (posted August 20, 2021)
- OPEN Government Act (page 1)
- FOIA Improvement Act (page 3)
- Entities Subject to the FOIA (page 5)
- “Agency Records” (page 11)
- FOIA Requesters (page 19)
- Proper FOIA Requests (page 25)
- Time Limits (page 34)
- Expedited Processing (page 39)
- Searching for Responsive Records (page 42)
- “Reasonably Segregable” Obligation (page 62)
- Consultations and Referrals (page 68)
- Responding to FOIA Requests (page 72)
- Administrative Appeals (page 79)
Fees and Fee Waivers (posted February 18, 2025)
- Introduction (page 1)
- Fees (page 1)
- Requester Categories (page 2)
- Commercial Use Requesters (page 2)
- Educational Institution, Noncommercial Scientific Institution, or News Media Requesters (page 4)
- All Other Requesters (page 9)
- Fee Category Considerations (page 9)
- Types of Fees (page 10)
- Fee Assessment Limitations and Considerations (page 14)
- Fee Waivers (page 23)
Exemption 1 (posted January 7, 2025)
- Standards Governing National Security Classification (page 3)
- Compilation of Information (page 10)
- Reclassification of Information (page 12)
- Classifying Information After Receiving a FOIA Request (page 13)
- Compliance With Proper Classification Procedures (page 14)
- Duration of Classification and Declassification (page 17)
- Applicability of Successive Executive Orders (page 18)
- Deference to Agency Judgment (page 19)
- In Camera Submissions and Adequate Public Record (page 24)
- Glomar Response (page 26)
- Waiver of Exemption 1 Protection (page 29)
- Exclusion Considerations (page 40)
Exemption 2 (posted June 12, 2023)
Exemption 3 (posted December 20, 2024)
- Initial Considerations (page 2)
- Statutes Not Delineated as Subpart (A)(i) (Requiring Withholding) or Subpart (A)(ii) (Establishing Criteria or Designating Matters to be Withheld) (page 9)
- Subpart (A)(i): Statutes Requiring Withholding (page 16)
- Subpart (A)(ii): Statutes Establishing Criteria for Withholding or Referring to Types of Matters to be Withheld (page 25)
- Statutes Both Requiring Withholding and Establishing Criteria or Delineating Particular Matters to be Withheld (page 43)
- Tax Return Information (page 46)
- FOIA-Specific Nondisclosure Statutes (page 54)
- Nondisclosure Results Under Appropriations Acts (page 58)
- "Operational Files" Provisions (page 61)
Exemption 4 (posted January 29, 2025)
- Trade Secrets (page 1)
- Commercial or Financial Information (page 4)
- Obtained from a "Person" (page 10)
- "Confidential" Information (page 13)
- Privileged Information (page 22)
- Interrelation with the Trade Secrets Act (page 24)
Exemption 5 (posted March 13, 2023)
- "Inter-Agency or Intra-Agency" Threshold Requirement (page 3)
- Consultant Corollary (page 4)
- Common Interest (page 12)
- Deliberative Process Privilege (page 15)
- Predecisional (page 18)
- Deliberative (page 28)
- Applying Deliberative Process Privilege (page 37)
- Adoption and Incorporation (page 45)
- Attorney Work-Product Privilege (page 52)
- Attorney-Client Privilege (page 66)
- Other Privileges (page 72)
- Foreseeable Harm and Other Considerations (page 80)
Exemption 6 (updated March 7, 2025)
- Threshold: Personnel, Medical and Similar Files (page 4)
- Privacy Interest (page 6)
- Privacy Interest, Derivative Privacy Invasion (page 14)
- Privacy Interest, Government Correspondents (page 16)
- Privacy Interest, Federal Employees (page 18)
- Privacy Interest, Information in the Public Domain and Practical Obscurity (page 26)
- Privacy Interest, Corporations and Business Relations (page 33)
- Privacy Interest, Life Status (page 37)
- Privacy Interest, Public Figures (page 40)
- Privacy Interest, Privacy Assurances and Waivers (page 42)
- Privacy Interest, Interest in Disclosure (page 43)
- FOIA Public Interest (page 45)
- FOIA Public Interest, Assigning a Weight to the FOIA Public Interest (page 53)
- FOIA Public Interest, Nexus Between the Requested Information and the Public Interest (page 55)
- FOIA Public Interest, Derivative Use of the Information (page 62)
- FOIA Public Interest, Public Servant Accountability (page 67)
- FOIA Public Interest, Evidentiary Showing (page 71)
- Balancing a Privacy Interest in Nondisclosure Against a Public Interest in Release (page 76)
- Balancing a Privacy Interest in Nondisclosure Against a Public Interest in Release, Name and Home Address (page 81)
- Redacting Identifying Information (page 85)
- Glomar Responses (page 89)
Exemption 7 (posted December 5, 2024)
- Introduction (p. 1)
- Records or Information (p. 4)
- Compiled (p. 5)
- Law Enforcement Purposes (p. 7)
- Criminal Law Enforcement Agencies (p. 9)
- Mixed Function Agencies (p. 14)
- Applying Threshold (p. 17)
- Personnel Actions and Law Enforcement Purpose (p. 28)
Exemption 7(A) (updated April 17, 2025)
- Introduction (page 1)
- Pending or Reasonably Anticipated Law Enforcement Proceeding (page 2)
- Types of Law Enforcement Proceedings (page 3)
- Release of Information is Reasonably Expected to Cause Articulable Harm to that Proceeding (page 12)
- Types of Interference (page 13)
- Generalized Showing of Harm (page 20)
- Generic Categories (page 22)
- Deference (page 26)
- Applying Exemption 7(A) in Litigation (page 28)
- Exclusion Considerations (page 30)
Exemption 7(B) (posted December 10, 2024)
Exemption 7(C) (posted March 18, 2025)
- Privacy Considerations (page 3)
- Public Interest (page 22)
- Balancing Process (page 30)
- The “Glomar” Response (page 39)
Exemption 7(D) (posted April 24, 2025)
- Introduction (page 1)
- The Confidentiality Analysis (page 6)
- Express Confidentiality (page 7)
- Implied Confidentiality (page 11)
- Scope of Protection (page 22)
- Waiver of Confidentiality (page 28)
- Exclusion Considerations (page 35)
Exemption 7(E) (updated April 22, 2025)
- Techniques and Procedures (page 1)
- Guidelines (page 28)
- Homeland Security Records and Exemption 7(E) (page 32)
Exemption 7(F) (posted January 21, 2025)
Exemption 8 (posted March 13, 2025)
Exemption 9 (posted January 31, 2025)
Exclusions (posted December 20, 2024)
- Record Exclusions and “Glomarization” (page 2)
- The (c)(1) Exclusion (page 3)
- The (c)(2) Exclusion (page 7)
- The (c)(3) Exclusion (page 12)
- Procedural Considerations (page 14)
Waiver and Discretionary Disclosure (posted August 31, 2022)
- Waiver (page 1)
- Discretionary Disclosure (page 18)
Litigation Considerations 1 (posted February 27, 2024)
- Jurisdiction (page 1)
- Standing (page 8)
- Venue and Removal (page 11)
- Statute of Limitations (page 14)
- Pleadings (page 16)
- Relief (page 20)
- Preliminary Injunctions (page 25)
- Mootness and Other Grounds for Dismissal (page 27)
- “Policy or Practice” Claims (page 35)
- Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies (page 42)
- Constructive Exhaustion (page 46)
- “Open America” Stays of Proceedings (page 55)
- Discovery (page 61)
Litigation Considerations 2 (posted February 27, 2024)
- Summary Judgment (page 1)
- Standard of Review (page 6)
- Evidentiary Showing (page 8)
- Declarations (page 9)
- Adequacy of Search (page 12)
- Vaughn Index (page 27)
- Foreseeable Harm Showing (page 42)
- “Reasonably Segregable” Showing (page 49)
- In Camera Inspection (page 56)
- Waiver of Exemptions in Litigation (page 62)
- Frivolous Lawsuits (page 67)
- Appointment of Counsel (page 68)
- Special Counsel Provision (page 69)
- Considerations on Appeal (page 70)
Attorney Fees (updated October 14, 2022)
- Threshold Issues (page 2)
- Eligibility (page 7)
- Entitlement (page 17)
- Timing of Attorney Fees Motions (page 31)
- Calculations (page 33)
Reverse FOIA (updated January 15, 2025)
- Standard of Review (page 7)
- Executive Order 12,600 (page 13)