WASHINGTON — Raw Story today filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of the Navy following the agencies’ refusal to release records related to a former U.S. Marine and avowed neo-Nazi.
In May, Raw Story investigative reporter Jordan Green filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Navy for “memoranda, emails, correspondence or other documents” related to the former Marine, Jordan Duncan, who the government has accused of participating in a white supremacist terror plot and possessing classified government documents.
The U.S. Navy denied Raw Story’s request and subsequent appeal of that denial, citing Duncan’s privacy interests. Duncan, who has been detained since his arrest in 2020, is charged with conspiracy to illegally manufacture and transport firearms and conspiracy to damage an energy facility.
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In its lawsuit, Raw Story accuses the Navy of failing to “conduct a reasonable search for records responsive to the request,” “issue a complete determination within the statutory deadline” and “produce all non-exempt records responsive to the request.”
Raw Story asks the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to declare that the departments of Defense and Navy violated the Freedom of Information Act and order them to “conduct a reasonable search for records and to produce the requested records promptly.”
The “basic function” of the Freedom of Information Act, according to the federal government, “is to ensure informed citizens,” which is “vital to the functioning of a democratic society.”
In a memorandum to government agencies last year, Attorney General Merrick Garland declared the Freedom of Information Act a “vital tool for ensuring transparency, accessibility, and accountability in government.” He directed government agencies to exercise a “presumption of openness.”
“In case of doubt, openness should prevail,” Garland wrote. “Moreover, agencies are strongly encouraged to make discretionary disclosures of information where appropriate.”
Raw Story argues that the government has fallen short of its own standard.
“The Biden administration is on notice that Raw Story will aggressively pursue the public’s right to know how its government is working or not working — up to and including legal action,” Raw Story Editor-in-Chief Dave Levinthal said. “Attorney General Garland has stated that agencies should ‘remove barriers to requesting and accessing government records.’ We encourage the government to take its own advice.”
Raw Story has retained the Chicago-based law firm Loevy & Loevy to assist with the lawsuit.
Matthew V. Topic, a nationally recognized Freedom of Information Act expert who has litigated hundreds of open government cases, is Raw Story’s lead attorney.
Founded in 2004, Raw Story is America’s largest independently-owned political news site.
This year, Raw Story significantly expanded its investigative and original reporting team and redoubled its commitment to government accountability journalism.
New hires include Levinthal, Executive Editor Adam Nichols and investigative reporters Alexandria Jacobson and Mark Alesia. Green, who joined Raw Story in 2021, recently won a Folio Award from the Fair Media Council for his investigative reporting on extremism in America.
Contact: editor@rawstory.com
