National FOIA Hall of Fame

“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

— James Madison, 1996 special recognition

“Democracy cannot exist if the government is not accountable to the public. FOIA provides the public with a mechanism to learn what government does in its name, as well as to benefit from the information collected and maintained at taxpayers’ expense.”

— Jane Kirtley, 1996 charter inductee

“The Freedom of Information Act was signed into law in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as a statutory and enforceable instrument to obtain access to government information in executive branch agency records. It remains 60 years later the most important ongoing accountability tool available to the public writ large. As we approach our Bicentennial we should celebrate this critical law and recommit ourselves to answerable government.”

— Patrice McDermott, 2001 inductee

“After over 50 years of laboring in the open-government vineyard at home and abroad, I remain convinced that the FOIA is perhaps the most important tool we have for empowering an informed electorate, combatting corruption, revealing government waste, promoting competition and innovation, and, in the end, protecting our democracy. The FOIA may be imperfect, but it is indispensable.”

— Tom Susman, 2006 inductee

“For all of its defects and limitations, FOIA has been—and still is—an absolutely indispensable tool for journalists, human rights advocates, and ordinary citizens committed to making their government more transparent and more accountable.”

— Jameel Jaffer, 2016 inductee