Published on: Wednesday, February 1, 2023
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) used pentobarbital, also called Nembutal, to execute 13 people between July 2020 and January 2021. Nonprofit group requested the names of suppliers of the lethal injection drug. BOP: Request denied. FOIA allows agencies to withhold "confidential" and "commercial" information. Non-profit: Could that category possibly include the bare names of the contractors that sell execution drugs to the Bureau of Prisons? D.C. Circuit: Maybe, but not on this record. "Indeed, the bureau's approach subverts the very purposes that Congress enacted [the Freedom of Information Act] to serve."
The case is Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. the U.S. Department of Justice, 21-5276, (D.C. Cir. Jan. 31, 2023).