Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) filed a lawsuit yesterday against the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), continuing the parties’ longstanding feud over the agency’s failure to update thirty-year-old guidelines for the adjudication of fee issues under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). In June 2016, CoA Institute submitted a petition for rulemaking to OMB asking it to revise the government-wide 1987 Uniform Freedom of Information Act Fee Schedule and Guidelines. After CoA Institute filed suit to compel a response, OMB denied the petition, arguing incorrectly that no agency subject to the FOIA is “currently relying” on outdated or statutorily superseded guidance. The new lawsuit seeks judicial review of that denial. Learn More
Archives for September 2019
Cause of Action Sues Commerce Department for Failing to Release Section 232 Uranium Report
Washington, D.C. (Sept. 10, 2019) – Cause of Action Institute (CoA Institute) has stepped up its ongoing battle with the Department of Commerce (Commerce) by suing the agency for failing to respond to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking access to the agency’s final report to the President regarding its Section 232 investigation into the “Effect of Imports of Uranium on the National Security” and the Department of Defense’s response letter to that report. Learn More
FTC v. Qualcomm: FTC Oversteps its Section 13(b) Authority . . . Again
On August 30, 2019, Cause of Action Institute (CoA) filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit in support of Qualcomm in FTC v. Qualcomm, Inc., No. 19-16122. This unprecedented, highly controversial case of international importance represents FTC’s latest ultra vires attempt to expand its powers. It does so here by seeking to transmogrify an alleged breach of contract into an antitrust violation. A former FTC Commissioner, a current FTC Commissioner, the U.S. Department of Justice, numerous other federal agencies, a former Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, leading antitrust scholars, and others all publicly oppose FTC’s wayward lawsuit against Qualcomm. Learn More