Jim Harper, the director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, says that it is not uncommon for agencies to invoke exemptions for law enforcement purposes.
But the proposed bill would prohibit government agencies from invoking Exemption 5 for documents that are 25 years old.
The need to consult third parties under the Freedom of Information Act is only required in circumstances when release of information is likely to invoke an exemption, for example on privacy grounds or because the information is commercial-in-confidence.
Clive Efford, the Labour MP for Eltham in south London, where Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993, said the Met should release the Operation Russell report and not try to invoke an exemption: "There is no justification for this report being kept secret.
A person who does a supererogatory act does not invoke the exemption which the natural duties allow" (Rawls 1971, p. 117).
In response to the lawsuit, the government invoked an exemption provided by the Freedom of Information Act for "law enforcement records," arguing that the plaintiffs were seeking investigatory material that would not be made available even in routine cases.
The government invoked an exemption to the act.
AT&T invoked the exemption in seeking to block the release of documents it had provided to the F.C.C., which conducted an investigation into claims of overcharges by the company in a program to provide equipment and services to schools.
By invoking the exemption, even in the form suggested by the critics of the rule change, the government is necessarily admitting that there is "an ongoing criminal investigation," which is precisely what it doesn't want to disclose.
Norfolk Constabulary invoked an exemption under the FOIA rules to refuse to confirm or deny whether other UK security services such as MI5 or MI6 have worked on the investigation.
Peru does not appear to invoke the SDT exemption either because it is not necessary to do so or because most of this support goes to larger and more commercial farms.
