University of Virginia law students at the school’s First Amendment Clinic are suing the federal government to tear at secrecy surrounding non-prosecution agreements. The students filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for over 30 settlement deals still in shrouds. One of the deals was a settlement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston over a sex abuse scandal in 2005. The students believe the public should be entitled to know why wrongdoers in settlements were not prosecuted for criminal acts. (The New York Times, April 9, 2014, by Ben Protess)
In a recent move, the clinic filed a FOIA request for a May 2012 non-prosecution agreement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office in south Texas and a Houston tree company that employed undocumented workers. Law student Kyle Mathews said it was odd that the government had not made the settlement public. “They’ve claimed that if they release their agreement, it would interfere with enforcement proceedings and law enforcement investigations and prosecutions — and it’s just not clear how that would apply to with this particular company or this particular agreement,” he said. “Plenty of other non-prosecution agreements are open to the public, including ones involving immigration and even more sensitive practices.” (University of Virginia School of Law, December 5, 2014, by Brian NcNeill)