Court Opinion

ID: 9503750
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 19:48:56.244845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:03:42.849610
License: Public Domain

WEAVER, J.
(concurring). I concur in the decision reached by the majority, but write separately to stress *706the two points I consider most important with respect to a request for documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).1
First, I agree that the appropriate time to measure if a public record is exempt under a particular FOIA exemption is when the public body asserts the exemption. Second, while I agree that “[t]here is no language in [MCL 15.245(2)(d)] or elsewhere in FOIA that requires a public body to continue to monitor FOIA requests once they have been denied,” ante at 704, it is important to note that “FOIA does not prevent a party that unsuccessfully requested a public record from submitting another FOIA request for that public record if it believes that, because of changed circumstances, the record can no longer be withheld from disclosure,” ante at 704-705 (emphasis added).2

 MCL 15.231 et seq.

 Moreover, to my understanding, when a party resubmits a FOIA request because of “changed circumstances,” it may very well be that those “changed circumstances” occurred over time. It is not the “passage of time” that is critical, but the “changed circumstances.” For example, a document containing information that had formerly been private, but subsequently became public, may no longer be exempt under FOIA.