Celebrities Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were among those arrested this week in an unfolding scandal wherein rich people bribed officials at elite colleges, through an intermediary, to accept their unqualified children. The Department of Justice, however, says it won’t be releasing their booking photos.
The DOJ and U.S. Marshals Services say their policies prohibit releasing the photos because doing so doesn’t serve the agencies’ needs if the person in question has already been apprehended. In other words, putting them out post-arrest only serves the public’s fascination. …
So what about a Freedom of Information request?
The government no longer grants routine access to federal mug shots through FOIA, a decision which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2016. Now anyone requesting a mug shot through FOIA must provide legal justification for its release that outweighs the defendant’s right to privacy.
Has the DOJ ever released a post-arrest photograph?