Louis

Flores
34-21 77th Street, No. 406
Jackson Heights, New York 11372
louisflores@louisflores.com
1 (646) 400-1168

04 November 2015

[By e-mail only : rukhsanah.singh@usdoj.gov]

Rukhsanah L. Singh, Assistant U.S. Attorney,

U.S. Attorneys Office - Eastern District of New York,
271 Cadman Plaza East, 7th Floor,
Brooklyn, NY 11201.

Dear Ms. Singh :

Re :

Louis Flores v. United States Department of Justice

No. 15-CV-2627 (JG) (RLM)

Predictably, the DOJ has decided once again to protect a closed, opaque government that
hides from the public the laws of the land, including the application of the laws, this time in
respect of the governments prosecution of activists, in violation of each of FOIA, the
Presidents FOIA Memorandum, and the Attorney Generals FOIA Guidelines.

As a public official, you are supposed to uphold and defend the public interest. At the heart of
this FOIA action is an effort to disclose to the public how the DOJ treats the First Amendment,
other Constitutional rights, civil liberties, and other civil rights of activists. From your actions,
it seems like you oppose an open, transparent government and the necessary citizenship
activities, including activism, that underpin our democratic form of government. You are
choosing to enable the DOJs pattern and practise of violating FOIA. Have you already lost
sight of your role as a public official ? Look at how much they make you give.

Do you even know why Im requesting these records ?

Its going to be through the work of activists, including Lt. Daniel Choi, that will end
discrimination in society and make government responsive to its citizens, thereby improving
the function of democracy in our government. Furthermore, across the East River from the
Brooklyn federal courthouse, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is bringing spectacular cases of
political and campaign corruption to trial, precisely because the triangulation between special
interests groups, campaign donors, and self-dealing politicians have corrupted the workings
of government. On many occasions, U.S. Attorney Bharara has said that his offices one-off
prosecutions are not enough to end the corrupting role of money in politics. How do you
think reforms are going to be made to a political system that clings to corruption and opposes

Rukhsanah L. Singh, Assistant U.S. Attorney

U.S. Attorneys Office - Eastern District of New York
04 November 2015
Page 2

an open, transparent government ? Its going to take activism on the part of voters to shape
public opinion and pressure for the passage of legislation to fight corruption. This is how a
democratic government is supposed to function, and this is especially true during a period of
reformation.

The position you are taking on behalf of the DOJ in this action is that the DOJ wants to protect
and defend a closed, opaque form of government that has been widely reported to have been
rendered broken by the corrupting role of money in politics, even as U.S. Attorney Bharara is
putting this corruption on trial, and even as U.S. Attorney Bharara has been calling for greater
public involvement to fight corruption. It took the activism of citizens, including Lt. Choi, to
end the governments de jure discrimination against gays, lesbians, and bi-sexuals in the U.S.
military. Its going to take citizen activities, from both voters and activists, to press for the
legal reforms to end corruption in government. Yet, by your actions, you are enabling the
DOJs pattern and practise of keeping secret how the government prosecutes activists for
their activism, thereby undercutting the very same citizen activities needed at precisely this
time now in order to reform government. I hope that you can remember why you went into
public service and, thus, fulfill on your intention to serve the public interest by working with
me to resolve the numerous, open issues in this FOIA action.

Attached, please find a draft joint status report to the Hon. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann.
Please let me know if we can set up a time on Thursday to discuss this, so we can reach timely
consensus on this draft joint status report.

Thank you kindly.

Yours sincerely,

Louis Flores

Attachment (as stated)

Louis Flores
34-21 77th Street, No. 406
Jackson Heights, New York 11372
louisflores@louisflores.com
1 (646) 400-1168

__ November 2015

BY ECF

Honorable Roanne L. Mann,

United States Magistrate Judge,
United States District Court,
Eastern District of New York,
225 Cadman Plaza East,
Brooklyn, New York 11201.

Dear Hon. Magistrate Judge Mann :

Re :

Louis Flores v. United States Department of Justice

No. 15-CV-2627 (Gleeson, J.) (Mann, M.J.)

In response to Your Honors omnibus order, dated 16 September 2015 (Dkt. No. 14), the
parties file this joint status report. Due to on-going negotiations, the parties request an
extension of time of 8 weeks to resolve numerous issues about the records being unjustly
withheld by the U.S. Department of Justice, including a new FOIA Request submitted by
Plaintiff to the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ for applicable records, a move necessitated by
the DOJs erroneous assertion that the DOJ can disclose records under FOIA at its own
discretion. It would be unjust to disallow Plaintiff the right to conduct due diligence on the
few records produced, consequently leaving open so many issues, particularly if the open
issues place Plaintiff in a position to be unable to oppose the DOJs anticipated summary
judgment motion. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(d). As Your Honor knows, its the DOJs pattern and
practise to avoid compliance with FOIA. The parties request this additional time to help the
DOJ reach compliance . Moreover, it would be unfair to bring the numerous details of these
unresolved issues for Your Honor to address during motion practise. The parties consent to
try to resolve as many of these open issues as possible, before providing an updated status
report by 8 January 2016, at which time the parties will propose a briefing schedule.

Respectfully submitted,


(draft)

cc :

[By e-mail only to : rukhsanah.singh@usdoj.gov]

Rukhsanah L. Singh, Assistant U.S. Attorney

U.S. Attorneys Office - Eastern District of New York
271 Cadman Plaza East, 7th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Attorney for Defendant