FOIA March Madness is headed into overtime

We started with 64 federal agencies, and now we’re down to two, duking it out to the finish

After a month of phone calls, letters, emails, faxes, and failed FOIAs, we’ve reached the final two competitors in our annual match-up of federal Freedom of Information Act offices. We began with the same request - a broad, arguably “burdensome” call for all “talking points” emails since Election 2016 - sent to 64 different FOIA agencies, and today we’re left with two offices that have worked hard to clarify the request, limit the results, and get us a sample of the information we’re after.

From the (b)2 bracket, the National Park Service handily moved pass the Executive Office for Immigration Review. In the b(4) division, last year’s champions, the Securities and Exchange Commission have advanced to the final round. Both of the remaining competitors have already released materials responsive to our request.

We’ll reevaluate the responses next week and announce the winner of MuckRock’s Third Annual FOIA March Madness competition.

You can browse all of the requests on the project page.