Jack Wroldsen, FOIA Fellows as Freedom Fighters: An Independent and Privately Funded FOIA Commission of Rotating Professionals (Oct. 31, 2024). 108 Marquette L. Rev. (forthcoming 2025), available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5043146 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5043146. “The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a hallmark of U.S. democracy, designed as an outsider element that foists transparency on a government… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Government Documents
What the data says about federal workers
Pew Research Center – “President-elect Donald Trump has focused much attention on shrinking the size and scope of the federal government for his second administration. Most notably, Trump has appointed tech mogul Elon Musk and GOP-primary-rival-turned-ally Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an advisory task force dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency.” Musk and Ramaswamy have said… Continue Reading
Free wildfire app Watch Duty overwhelmed with new LA resident and firefighter users
Washington Post [unpaywalled]: “Struggling to keep track of fast moving wildfires and the latest evacuation zones, residents of Los Angeles are rushing to download a free app called Watch Duty. The company said it had gained more than 1.6 million new users since Tuesday, the vast majority in LA County. It’s Apple’s most downloaded free… Continue Reading
The State of Democracy, January 2025
Marist Poll: “While more than seven in ten Americans say the issues that divide the country pose a serious threat to the nation’s democracy, there has been a steep decline in the proportion of Americans who have this view. In fact, many Americans think most of the key components to the U.S. democracy are working… Continue Reading
Territorial Courts, Constitutions, and Organic Acts, Explained
State Court Report – “Over 3.5 million people reside in the five inhabited U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each territory has its own court system and constitution or similar governing document. This explainer provides a brief overview of territorial courts and constitutions, including… Continue Reading
Our Lunch and Learn Webinar, “Locating Congressionally Mandated Reports”
In Custodia Legis: “We hope you can join us on January 28, 2025, at 1 p.m. EST for our latest Lunch and Learn webinar, “Locating Congressionally Mandated Reports.” This webinar is the latest installment in the Law Library’s lunchtime learning program. Earlier webinars in this series have covered federal legislative history research, the Law Library’s… Continue Reading
The Truth About January 6th
Jason Kottke: “Today is the fourth anniversary of the attack on Congress and attempted coup of the United States government and the man who incited it will be sworn in as President of the United States later this month. On this dark day, it is important to remember what happened and why, so I went… Continue Reading
CFPB Finalizes Rule to Remove Medical Bills from Credit Reports
“Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule that will remove an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of about 15 million Americans. The CFPB’s action will ban the inclusion of medical bills on credit reports used by lenders and prohibit lenders from using medical information in their lending… Continue Reading
USAFacts’ top 10 articles of 2024
“Foreign aid, election data, border security, and the standard of living in America were among readers’ favorite articles. In 2024, Americans came to USAFacts seeking information about safety and homelessness across the US, how many people are immigrating here, the 2024 election, and government spending related to foreign aid and foreign debt. Here are the… Continue Reading
Study Finds TikTok Is Likely Vehicle for Chinese Propaganda
Network Contagion Research Institute & Rutger – Information Manipulation on TikTok and Beliefs About China, December 2024. “Three studies explored how TikTok, a China-owned social media platform, may be manipulated to conceal content critical of China while amplifying narratives that align with Chinese Communist Party objectives. Study I employed a user journey methodology, wherein newly… Continue Reading
EPA Report Finds That Formaldehyde Presents an “Unreasonable Risk” to Public Health
ProPublica: “A long-awaited report from the Environmental Protection Agency has found that formaldehyde presents an unreasonable risk to human health. But the report, released Thursday, downplayed the threat the chemical poses to people living near industrial plants that release large quantities of the carcinogen into the air.The health risk assessment was published weeks after a… Continue Reading
The Ethics Complaint Against Liz Cheney: Blue Smoke Without Fire
Just Security: “A recently released House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight report accuses former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney of unethical conduct and concludes that “the Federal Bureau of Investigation must also investigate Representative Cheney.” The report is the House Republican majority’s investigation of the House’s own January 6 report, created when the Democrats still controlled the… Continue Reading
