A bill has passed the U.S. Senate which would make it easier for citizens, journalists, and researchers to make Freedom of Information Act requests for records and remove discretionary exemptions for internal documents over 25 years old.

Under the legislation, agencies would have to point to a specific “foreseeable harm” when withholding documents that would typically be exempt from public release. The legislation would also create a single FOIA request portal for all agencies, limit the amount of time that certain documents are exempt from disclosure and make more documents available online, among other things.

Lawmakers have tried get the bill passed for the past few years, despite opposition from the Justice Department and a handful of other civil enforcement agencies that have quietly opposed the legislation.

Funny how the Justice Department is so much more into using The All Writs Act to force others into helping them extract things like emails from suspects compared to their willingness to oblige FOIA requests for their own emails. It just seems like law enforcement have an easier time appreciating the costs of retrieving information when the information is their own.