Whittaker v. U.S. Department of Justice
Case Number: 1:26-cv-01522
Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Clients: Zack Whittaker
Background: In August 2020, two FBI agents visited the home of Zack Whittaker, senior editor at TechCrunch and author of the weekly cybersecurity newsletter this week in security. The agents sought information on behalf of the Mexican government about Whittaker’s reporting on a hack at one of Mexico’s embassies.
Then and throughout the following year, Whittaker repeatedly declined to answer the FBI’s questions about information beyond what he published. In August 2023, he submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records that could explain why FBI agents came to his home and kept asking for information he gathered as a working journalist.
The FBI denied Whittaker’s FOIA request, citing an exemption that shields information related to law enforcement methods that, if disclosed, could lead to circumvention of the law. After Whittaker filed an administrative appeal, the FBI maintained the denial, claiming the responsive records are part of an “investigative file which is exempt from disclosure.”
On behalf of Whittaker, Reporters Committee attorneys filed this lawsuit, arguing that the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice violated FOIA by unlawfully withholding the records. The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to order the FBI to release all non-exempt records in a timely fashion.
Quote: “I believe that the public has a right to know for what reasons the government sought information from a journalist, whose newsgathering activities are protected under the First Amendment,” Whittaker wrote in a newsletter about the lawsuit. “While the files I seek pertain to me, I believe that this litigation is more important to support the rights of anyone who reports in America, especially for independent journalists, who are today more than ever documenting government and corporate abuses in the public interest.”
Filings:
2026-05-04: Complaint