Talk to any activist or researcher who uses the Freedom of Information Act to obtain government documents, and sooner or later that person will lament, “It takes forever to get the documents.”
On Wednesday, those very words came from the mouth of Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. during arguments in an FOIA case, Milner v. Department of the Navy. It was a signal that the high court, which is usually stingy when it comes to the Act, might actually be poised to hand a rare victory to someone who wants to expand the scope of government disclosure.
