The Buckeye Institute has submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the case of Gun Owners of America v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The organization is urging the appeals court to uphold the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and overturn a lower court decision that restricted the use of public documents.
David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute, stated, “In the lower court’s ruling, the court has given itself a new power to create a new governmental right under the Freedom of Information Act that does not exist and that Congress did not authorize. The Buckeye Institute urges the appeals court to reverse the lower court’s misguided ruling and uphold the Freedom of Information Act.”
According to The Buckeye Institute’s brief, FOIA does not give courts authority to limit how public documents released under FOIA are used. The organization argues that courts should not expand their powers beyond what Congress intended. In this particular case, after ATF claimed it had inadvertently disclosed certain information, it requested restrictions on how those records could be used. However, The Buckeye Institute contends that FOIA does not permit such restrictions and points out that Supreme Court decisions on First Amendment rights protect use of public records even if they were released by mistake.
Despite these arguments, the district court imposed limits on Gun Owners of America’s ability to use those records—an action The Buckeye Institute believes exceeded judicial authority.
