A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has waded into a circuit split in holding that the Board of Immigration Appeals is required to make thousands of unpublished agency decisions widely available to the public.

The ruling, entered Feb. 5, said district courts are authorized under the Freedom of Information Act to force government agencies to comply with disclosure obligations to make documents available via virtual “reading rooms” meant to compile final opinions and orders in adjudicating cases.