We invite you to find a cozy chair and join us for a National Archives book talk at 5 p.m. EST Thursday November 18, featuring law professor Margaret Kwoka, author of “Saving the Freedom of Information Act.” Professor Kwoka, whose recently published book asserts that FOIA is not working the way Congress originally intended, will be joined in conversation by Thomas Susman, strategic advisor for governmental affairs and global programs at the American Bar Association and a longtime member of the FOIA Advisory Committee.
Professor Kwoka, the Lawrence Herman Professor in Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, has conducted extensive research on FOIA. Her work shows that at many federal agencies, requesters are largely individuals seeking their own files, businesses using FOIA as part of commercial enterprises, or others with idiosyncratic purposes. The result, she maintains, harms the vision of democratic accountability that Congress had for FOIA when it originally passed the law in 1966. Professor Kwoka, who served on the 2016-2018 term of the FOIA Advisory Committee with Mr. Susman, proposes a series of structural reforms to FOIA.
We hope you’ll register to attend (virtually) this free program which will be livestreamed on the National Archives YouTube channel.