Seife v. U.S Food and Drug – The Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic

Seife v. U.S Food and Drug

Cornell’s First Amendment Clinic, as co-counsel with Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic and Vinson & Elkins LLP, represents plaintiff and veteran investigative journalist Charles Seife in a case before Judge Jesse Furman in the Southern District of New York.

The Clinic is currently representing Charles Seife in an appeal that is pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The heart of the case focuses on access to a series of U.S. Food and Drug clinical trial reports regarding a controversial drug used to treat Muscular Dystrophy. Defandants in the matter have asserted that the requested documents fall within FOIA Exemption 4 (which allows the FDA to withhold certain commercial or financial information) and therefore need not be disclosed under FOIA. The appeal is fully briefed, and oral argument is set for March 7, 2022. Students may be involved in preparing for oral argument.