Jurisdiction and Venue


 * This article is part of a series on Litigation

Venue
FOIA provides that venue is appropriate in three places:
 * 1) the district court of the United States in the district in which the complainant resides, or has his principal place of business,
 * 2) a district court of the United States in which the agency records are situated, or
 * 3) in the District of Columbia

Jurisdiction
A federal court’s jurisdiction over a FOIA case is dependent upon a showing that an agency has (1) “improperly” (2) “withheld” (3) “agency records.” “Judicial authority to devise remedies and enjoin agencies” under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B) can only be invoked where all three prongs of this jurisdictional test are satisfied.