The Yale Law Journal

David E. McCraw

Forum

The “Freedom From Information” Act: A Look Back at Nader, FOIA, and What Went Wrong

David E. McCraw

Not long after the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) went into effect, consumer advocate Ralph Nader sent one hundred students out to test whether the statute was working. The students made FOIA requests to more than a dozen federal agencies on a range of consumer topics, from highway safety and a…