From The "It's Never Too Late" Department
The ruling directed the Internal Revenue Service to "provide requested information" to Syracuse School of Management Professor Susan B. Long within 30 days of a request. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, "Long co-directs Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data-research organization through the school that compiles government statistics for the public."
When the Freedom of Information Act turned 40, the National Security Archive at George Washington University thought the oldest FOIA request dated from the Reagan years. They based their assessment on, you guessed it, data obtained via FOIA requests.
Why Seattle, when Long is in Syracuse? Because her original request, filed in 1974, came when she was a graduate student at The University of Washington. Courts ruled in her favor in 1976. Even after two more court decisions in her favor, the IRS refused to comply. Who's to say this time will be any different?
See
:: The Freedom of Information Act
:: Pentagon FOIA Request Required Court Order
:: FOIA At 40
:: How to File a FOIA Request
:: The Freedom of Information Committee Blog