Petrelis Files

Justice Dept: 470 Pages of Alito Files for 180 Minutes of Examination

How nice of the Justice Department, thanks to a FOIA request, to make legal documents related to Judge Alito available, on a very limited basis today.

Only reporters were granted 180 minutes to peruse 470 pages of information, and my estimation, it would take about 39 seconds to quickly read each page and figure out if the information was newsworthy or worth pursuing further. Not a lot of time to carefully examine documents from our next possible Supreme Court justice.

It's pretty disturbing, as an open records/FOIA advocate, to see the Justice Department release fail to mention anything about making copies of the 470 pages or how members of the general public and advocacy groups can look at the documents.

I'm hoping whoever filed the original FOIA request for the Alito records is appealing the decision to make the records available in such a restricted fashion.

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To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Justice Department, 202-514-2007
News Advisory:

The Justice Department will make available approximately 470 pages of Office of Legal Counsel documents released pursuant to a FOIA request related to Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., today, Nov. 28, 2005 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST.

WHAT: Approximately 470 pages of Office of Legal Counsel documents released pursuant to a FOIA request regarding Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.

WHEN: Today, November 28, 2005 at 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST

WHERE: Department of Justice (Room 1101), 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530

NOTE: ALL media MUST PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO ID (such as driver's license) as well as VALID MEDIA CREDENTIALS. Media interested in attending should enter through the Visitor Center at the Constitution Avenue entrance, between Ninth and Tenth Streets. All press inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to the Office of Public Affairs at 202-616-2777.