We fund the government. We pay the salaries of its employees. They work for us—though they often seem to forget that. One of the ways we keep tabs on what they are doing is a tool called the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Congress passed this law specifically so that anyone can request emails, documents, records, etc., regarding the work our government is doing.
For years now, FDA has been dragging its feet when it comes to producing documents in response to FOIA requests. And not just dragging its feet—burying them in concrete. So much so that my firm has brought over 100 lawsuits against the federal government, on behalf of ICAN, just to get documents that should clearly have been produced. And even then, the government still drags its feet, wasting taxpayer money fighting us in court to generate more delay.
The 21-year FOIA request
Many of you are likely familiar with the FOIA case we filed for the Covid-19 vaccine licensure documents in which FDA wanted 75 years to produce the documents! Sadly, that was not an outlier. It was business as usual for the government in responding to FOIA requests.
Here is just one other example of FDA’s FOIA behavior. In a court filing on January 30, 2026, FDA told a federal judge that the FOIA request at issue, which was originally submitted on January 26, 2024, was “currently positioned 471” in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) Complex Track. Meaning, it was behind 470 other requests. FDA then conceded it “cannot reasonably estimate” when that request will reach the top of the track. Let that sink in. It cannot even estimate when it will comply with the law.
It gets worse. FDA then asked the Court to pause the litigation for “at least eighteen months, through and including June 25, 2027.” By then, FDA explained, it “anticipates” that it “will be in a better position to evaluate when it might be able to respond” to the FOIA request. Read that again. It doesn’t even commit to producing the documents by 2027—instead that’s the date it will evaluate the request’s status. That is not a commitment. That is a dodge.
While FDA pretends it cannot provide an estimate, we can reasonably estimate when it will produce these documents based on recent movement in the queue. In a 6-month period, the request at issue advanced just 11 positions in the queue—from number 482 to 471. If that rate continues, it will take more than 21 years before this request reaches the top of CBER’s Complex Track.
So much for transparency. And this is a FOIA request under the jurisdiction of a federal court. Imagine those requests that are stuck at the administrative levels.

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