| 9. | What happens when a determination on my FOIA request is not made within the applicable time period? |
| | | | | When a determination on your request is not made within the applicable time period and you have
not agreed to a different response timetable, you may file a suit in federal court to pursue a response. If, however, the court concludes that you have unreasonably refused to limit your request or to accept an alternate timetable for response, the court may find that the component's failure to comply within the statutory time period is justified. The court may excuse the lack of a timely response if the component demonstrates that it has a backlog of requests that were
received before yours, that it processes its requests on a first-come/first-served basis, and that it is making reasonable progress in reducing its backlog of pending FOIA requests. In such cases, the court may postpone its consideration of your lawsuit until the agency reaches your request in its processing backlog. |
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| 10. | Can I get my FOIA requests processed on an expedited basis? | | | |
| | Under certain conditions you may be entitled to have your requests processed on an expedited basis. However, you should realize that whenever a FOIA request is expedited for a particular requester, taking that action results in an additional delay for previous requesters who have been waiting for a response. Therefore, in an effort
to treat all requesters equitably, the Department of Justice ordinarily will process a FOIA request ahead of others only in cases in which there will be a threat to someone's life or physical safety, or where an individual will suffer the loss of substantial due process rights if the records are not processed on an expedited bases. In most cases, a request will not be expedited merely on the basis that the requester is facing a court deadline in a judicial proceeding. |
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