January, 21 2011, 12:17pm EDT
District Court Rules That Outdated Documents Are Not 'Trade Secrets' Under FOIA
Following U.S. Supreme Court Reversal, District Court Says That Material Requested Under FOIA Must Be Released
WASHINGTON
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cannot block an airplane
enthusiast's request for the design specifications of an antique
aircraft because the information is neither secret nor commercially
valuable, a Washington, D.C., district court has ruled.
Airplane enthusiast Brent Taylor filed a request under the Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) in August 2002 for records relating to a
1930s-era antique aircraft, the Fairchild F-45. After receiving no
response from the agency, Taylor filed a complaint in the United States
District Court for the District of Columbia. The district court
dismissed the case, concluding that Taylor had been "virtually
represented" by the plaintiff in a previous FOIA case over the same
documents. Taylor's case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,
which, rejecting the theory of "virtual representation," reversed the
lower courts.
Back at the district court, the FAA claimed the requested
information should not be disclosed to Taylor because it contained trade
secrets. However, in 1955, the Fairchild Engine and Airplane
Corporation, the makers of the aircraft in question, sent a letter to
the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), the predecessor to the FAA,
authorizing the agency to "loan" certification materials - which
included specific design information - to members of the public who
wanted to repair their aircraft. Fairchild revoked the permission in
response to a similar FOIA request in 1997.
The court ruled this week that when Fairchild in 1955 allowed the
CAA to release the documents to people who would have no obligation to
keep them secret, the documents stopped being secret. Therefore, the
information in the documents no longer qualifies as "trade secrets" that
can be withheld under FOIA, and the government is obligated to release
the documents. The court also ruled that the aircraft's specifications
are not trade secrets because they are no longer commercially valuable,
as the technology is outdated and Fairchild no longer manufactures
aircraft.
"We're glad that the court recognized the limits on characterizing
records as trade secrets under FOIA," said Adina Rosenbaum, the Public
Citizen attorney who represented Taylor. "The government should not be
withholding as trade secrets documents that are not commercially
valuable and that were allowed to be released for more than 40 years."
To learn more about this case, visit: https://www.citizen.org/litigation/forms/cases/getlinkforcase.cfm?cID=429.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Democracy Defenders Stress NY Trump Trial 'Is About Voter Deception'
"Trump engaged in criminal acts to cover up the truth just days before the 2016 election, and now he will finally face a jury of everyday Americans."
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As former U.S. President Donald Trump's first of four potential criminal trials began in New York on Monday, progressive groups emphasized that what is often called a hush money case involving a porn star "is about voter deception."
Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate to face Democratic President Joe Biden in November, faces 91 felony charges across the four cases. For this one, he was indicted by a New York grand jury last spring with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to alleged hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle.
The payments were made by Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer, to porn star Stormy Daniels, and by the tabloid The National Enquirer to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. The twice-impeached ex-president has pleaded not guilty.
"This case is about the allegation that Trump criminally hid information from voters to influence the outcome of the 2016 election," said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, in a statement Monday.
"You can draw a clear pattern from this election interference behavior to his more emboldened efforts to subvert the 2020 election, which led to the January 6th insurrection, a lasting stain on American democracy," she added, referring to the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack that some critics argue makes him constitutionally ineligible to hold office again. "Accountability for criminal deception of voters is absolutely necessary to ensure future candidates and public officials know they can't get away with this sort of conduct."
Gilbert stressed that "despite what Donald Trump and his allies may claim, no one is above the law—including a former president charged with serious crimes, and today marks the start of the legal system's chance to prove this point."
Stand Up America president and founder Sean Eldridge similarly celebrated that "Donald Trump will finally face accountability for falsifying his company's business records in order to conceal damning information from voters ahead of the 2016 election."
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This is the first criminal trial of a former American president. Monday featured a series of rulings from Judge Juan Merchan—who has rejected Trump's demands that he step away from the case—and the beginning of jury selection.
The New York Timesreported that "the initial pool of prospective jurors dwindled rapidly. More than half of the first group of 96 were dismissed in short order after indicating that they did not believe they could be impartial. Court adjourned for the day roughly two hours after jury selection began, with zero jurors chosen."
In addition to the case in New York, Trump faces two federal cases—overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith because of Trump's 2024 campaign. One is about his mishandling of classified material and the other stems from his attempt to reverse the 2020 election results. The Republican also faces a Georgia case for interfering with the last presidential contest.
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Public Citizen is among the groups that last week submitted briefs to the high court criticizing Trump's claims. The watchdog's president, Robert Weissman, said that "Trump's legal theory defies common sense and would enable an almost limitless tyranny. Nothing in the Constitution—which aims to prevent tyranny—supports Trump's theory."
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Pro-Palestine activists around the world on Monday executed a day of direct action protests aimed at "blocking the arteries of capitalism and jamming the wheels of production" amid Israel's ongoing genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza.
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Protesters taking part in the worldwide "economic blockade" flooded the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City in an afternoon action, while at least hundreds of people marched through downtown Los Angeles demanding a cease-fire in Gaza and no war against Iran.
In downtown Los Angeles several hundred people marching in a Pro-Palestinian protest, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/BoBhFWWKat
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) April 15, 2024
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Both directions of the Golden Gate Bridge have been shut down due to a Pro-Palestinian protest. Demonstrators have blocked the southbound direction of Highway 101. This is the second protest causing major back-ups on Bay Area roadways, the demonstration has blocked northbound… pic.twitter.com/oO5dMCvqFD
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) April 15, 2024
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Demonstrators are… pic.twitter.com/SUJC3SkppN
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Arms giant Lockheed Martin's office in Arlington, Virginia was occupied by activists who locked themselves together while chanting "fund care, not killing."
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— Kuffiya (@Kuffiyateam) April 15, 2024
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BREAKING: Anti-Israel protesters are blockading Deltaport in the Port of Vancouver.
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They ask dock workers to join in.https://t.co/kddQK47rmL pic.twitter.com/l1ciRyhW1Q
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According to Oxfam's analysis, half of IDA-eligible countries are overindebted and need roughly 45% of their debt to the banks canceled in order to address surging inequality in their own communities.
The global financial institutions must prove at the Spring Meetings that "tackling inequality is a priority," said Donald.
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At Inter Press Service, Jaime Atienza, equitable financing director at the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, pointed to the example of Zambia, one of 37 countries identified by Oxfam as facing rising levels of inequality.
While still struggling, Atienza wrote, through the G20 Common Framework on Debt, Zambia "secured serious debt relief and restructuring with both government and private creditors, which will help enable vital and urgent investments in health, education, and social protection."
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