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3 min read Articles

Plot twist: I'm suing the Justice Department and FBI

Why I'm suing the government for records under the Freedom of Information Act.
a photo outside the front doors of the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, D.C., home to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Image via Wikimedia Commons

This morning, I sued the U.S. government in federal court. 

Back in February, I wrote in a blog post about how I tried but failed to obtain files from the Department of Justice and the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act relating to why two FBI agents had visited my home in August 2020. The FBI agents on my doorstep were seeking information on behalf of the Mexican government regarding a TechCrunch article I had published a year earlier about a hack of one of Mexico's embassies. I declined to speak with them and shut the door.

The FBI later followed up with questions over email. My newsroom lawyers' ultimately rebuffed the FBI's request, citing my work as a journalist acting within scope of my newsgathering activities.

Following all this, I sought my own records from the DOJ and the FBI under federal records disclosure law. I wanted to know on what grounds or reasons the FBI — and the Mexican government — wanted answers from me as a working journalist, but the FBI denied my request. I appealed, and the DOJ asked the FBI to look again. But the FBI denied my appeal, claiming the information I wanted was located in an "investigative file which is exempt from disclosure," and that was that.

The next step would be to sue the DOJ and the FBI, but as I wrote at the time, I did not have the ability to take this any further. 

Thanks to the pro bono support of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, I sued the DOJ and FBI in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday. In my complaint, I asked a judge to compel the release of files that I had originally requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

We argue that the DOJ and FBI are withholding documents that are subject to FOIA, and that the agencies haven't demonstrated any substantial reason as to why they claim the files are exempt from public disclosure. As such, I want the government to release all of the non-exempt files in relation to this case. 

You can read my complaint: Whittaker v. Justice Department.

On a personal note, 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.

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. 

I'm incredibly grateful for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for their support in bringing this legal action, as well as your support as a reader. I endeavor to keep you posted on major developments.

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