Public records are a key part of Racket’s library project—not just for the stories we cover, but as a resource to help you access the records that matter to you. I figured talking to a guy with “FOIA” as his vanity license plate would be a good place to start.

Allan Blutstein helps run a site called FOIA Advisor. It’s a labor of love among Blutstein and two others that he jokes is funded by his credit card. All three are involved in conservative politics for their day jobs, but FOIA Advisor is for anyone. It has a roundup of FOIA news, FOIA-related court cases, links to searchable FOIA regulations for federal agencies, samples of FOIA appeal letters by conservative and liberal groups, FOIA letter-generator sites, and electronic reading rooms where you can access records and see what other people are requesting.

The reading rooms are helpful. For one, their FOIA logs remove the need to FOIA all FOIA requests as I did back in the day. Blutstein also says they can be tremendously helpful in crafting your own request. Blutstein should know. He worked at the Justice Department responding to FOIA requests. He was also principal legal counsel for FOIA staff at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Stability. Now, he’s director of FOIA operations for the America Rising Corporation. Our conversation with him, edited for clarity and brevity:

Racket (Greg Collard): Which features of FOIA Advisor are most popular?

Allan Blutstein: Our summaries and postings of court opinions. There are hundreds of federal court FOIA cases issued every year and we try to keep on top of that. My former office of the Justice Department also summarizes cases, but they’re usually a month or two behind and they don’t post the actual decision. They will give long summaries. I’m not sure if that’s for trademark intellectual property purposes or wh...

Do Your Own Research: How to File Your Own Freedom of Information Requests

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