Federal judge orders Pentagon to expedite UC student's FOIA request

SAN FRANCISCO – United States District Court Judge William Alsup granted the ACLU of Northern California’s motion for summary judgment this morning, requiring the Defense Department to expedite their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request for information about a secret government terrorism database.

Last December, NBC News reported that the database contained information on several anti-war protests including ones at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley. On March 7, a lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and cooperating attorneys Amitai Schwartz and Lisa Sitkin on behalf of two UC student anti-war groups, the ACLU of Northern California, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian after the Defense Department denied a request for expedited processing.

In granting summary judgment, the Court found that “there was a compelling need for the information” and that the information requested was “of significant importance to public policy and public protest.”

“The public has a right to know the extent to which the Defense Department is spying on political protest,” said ACLU cooperating attorney Amitai Schwartz. “Today the Court moved us one step closer to finding out the facts about what really happened.”

Mark Schlosberg, Police Practices Policy Director for the ACLU of Northern California also worked on the case.