During a September 2006 raid of the Michigan office of Life for Relief and Development (Life), the federal authorities seized computers and organizational records, but told the press the investigation did not relate to terrorism, and that the charity could still operate as before the raid. Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) returned most of the computers shortly after the raid, they kept the documents and files of the organization. When Life later requested the financial documents and receipts to be returned, to enable the organization to file the appropriate tax returns, the FBI attempted to charge Life over $100,000 for “copying fees.”

A new Data Quality Act (DQA) lawsuit was filed Feb. 22 in a federal court in California. The suit claims that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are disseminating false and misleading information regarding the health benefits of marijuana. The lawsuit is another test of the judicial reviewability of DQA, which enables groups and members of the public to challenge the data quality of federal government information.

Lobbying and ethics rules changes are rapidly becoming a focal point of the 110th Congress. Since the Senate passed the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007, the action has moved to the House, where a bill on executive branch lobbying recently passed the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and a Judiciary subcommittee addressed possible changes to the Senate bill.