Media Coverage
Source: Courthouse News Service
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
04.17.17
After a four-year legal effort, the FBI has agreed to turn over records relating to journalists Dennis Raimondo and Eric Garris. Along with the American Civil Liberties Unit, Litigation senior associate Laura Hurtado represented Raimondo and Garris in their lawsuit against the federal agency.
As part of the agreement, the FBI produced all of the requested records, including those that mentioned Garris, Raimondo or their website Antiwar.com, and any records that discussed other issues but contained references to the website having published an article about the issue. The deal, clarified in two stipulations, requires the agency to pay $299,000 to settle legal fees, reports Courthouse News Service.
After discovering their names in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that had been posted online, Raimondo and Garris submitted their own FOIA request for records pertaining to themselves and their website. The journalists later filed a lawsuit against the FBI when the agency refused to release the majority of the records.
According to Garris and Raimondo, the documents in the posted FOIA request revealed that threat assessments on the two and their website had been conducted by the FBI and that an agency analyst had recommended exploring whether their activity could “constitute a threat to national security.”
Raimondo and Garris have two additional claims pending before a judge. One seeks to have the FBI expunge records that describe how the journalists exercised their first amendment rights, and the second asks the agency to expunge records related to Garris that are inaccurate.