After all, two federal appellate courts had already rejected nearly identical requests brought under the Freedom of Information Act. This is "precisely the argument that has been explicitly rejected time and again," she told U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco.
But this time is different, Henderson ruled July 12, because the law the government has relied on to keep export license applications private — the Export Administration Act of 1979 — expired 12 years ago. It doesn't matter, he concluded, that the president has declared a national emergency and extended export regulations by executive order.
