In 2012, the two men filed separate Freedom of Information Law requests seeking any records the NYPD had relating to surveillance or an investigation. The men sued the NYPD separately in lawsuits prompted by a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning stories by The Associated Press on NYPD surveillance of Muslim groups in New York and New Jersey after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. In affirming a lower court ruling, the Court of Appeals said that the NYPD properly invoked the so-called Glomar doctrine in response to state FOIL requests by neither confirming nor denying whether the records existed. “We are pleased that the Court found that a Glomar response is permissible under FOIL and was used appropriately by the NYPD here,” Sgt. The Glomar doctrine has since been used by agencies if information falls within certain exemptions.

Source: National Post March 29, 2018 17:46 UTC