DOJ Moves Toward Transparency - Will it Include Discovery?

AG Garland announced a new policy this week in a press release titled, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Issues New FOIA Guidelines to Favor Disclosure and Transparency .  The actual policy that favors transparency in FOIA requests is located here.  The new guidance says that there is a presumption of openness. 

Years back the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) filed a FOIA request for DOJ's Blue Book on the discovery protocols used by the government. The DOJ argued the book was work-product and only a small portion was released following a lawsuit.  See Louis Virelli & Ellen S. Podgor, Secret Policies, 2019 Illinois Law Rev. 463 (2019).  Perhaps now is a good time for the government to think about transparency in discovery practices so that fewer discovery violations occur in criminal cases.

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