[JURIST] The National Security Archive [official website], a research institute at George Washington University, won partial summary judgment on Wednesday in its lawsuit [case documents] against the US Air Force, as the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ruled [PDF text; press release] that the Air Force had engaged in a pattern or practice of violating the Freedom of Information Act [text; summary]. The National Security Archive filed the lawsuit in 2005 seeking Air Force compliance with over 80 FOIA requests, some of which have been pending for 18 years.

The court agreed that the Air Force had a "dismal record" of compliance but stopped short of ordering the Air Force to fulfill the 82 pending requests in question. Instead, a hearing was scheduled for May 22 to determine what documents should be released. AP has more.