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The Reporters Committee wrote to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee asking them to question Attorney General Eric Holder about the Department of Justice's policy of releasing booking photographs under FOIA. The Marshals Service had unilaterally determined not to honor such requests despite a federal appellate court's longstanding decision that the photographs do not implicate individual privacy.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by 37 media organizations, has written to U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., asking that a recently enacted Marshals Service policy to block the release of federal criminal booking photographs be rescinded.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver (10th Cir.) ruled today that the federal government does not have to release mug shots under the federal Freedom of Information Act in World Publishing Company v. Department of Justice. The court's decision brings to three the number of federal appeals courts to confront the issue.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has written to the U.S. Marshals Service asking it to clarify its position on the release of federal booking photographs under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Specifically, the Reporters Committee inquired into future access policies within the geographic bounds of the Sixth Circuit where a federal appeals court ruled in 1996 that these mug shots are public documents. The letter was co-signed by 21 leading news media companies and organizations.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday asking a federal appeals court to revisit the U.S. Marshals Service’s “inane” policy of releasing federal suspects’ mug shots based on the requestor’s physical location.
The U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday released mug shot photographs of the man accused of killing six and injuring 13 others in the January Arizona shooting that claimed the life of a federal judge and severely injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. While the government claimed in litigation that it did not want the photographs released, the U.S. Marshals Service said it was impartial on the issue and was strictly adhering to the law.
Additional mug shots of Jared Lee Loughner, the Arizona man accused of killing six people and injuring 13 others -- including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- in January, were released Tuesday after a federal judge refused to enjoin their release.
A U.S. District Court judge in Arizona issued a stay Friday to prevent the immediate disclosure of additional mug shots of Jared Lee Loughner, who is accused of killing six people and injuring 14 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in a January mass shooting in Tucson. A hearing will be held Feb. 18 to determine whether or not the photos should be released in response to a request under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
A freelance journalist has asked a federal appeals court to consider whether a lower court erred when it said the U.S. Marshals Service could deny a public records request for the mug shot of an infamous fugitive.
A federal court in south Florida told a freelance journalist that his request for the mug shot of a securities fraud mastermind will go unfulfilled because the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to booking photos of suspects in federal custody -- at least not if you make the request in the Eleventh Circuit.
Reporters Committee letter to Senate Judiciary Committee
The Reporters Committee wrote to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee asking them to question Attorney General Eric Holder about the Department of Justice's policy of releasing booking photographs under FOIA. The Marshals Service had unilaterally determined not to honor such requests despite a federal appellate court's longstanding decision that the photographs do not implicate individual privacy.