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Attorney Saura Sahu speaks alongside members and fans of the Detroit music group Insane Clown Posse during a Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014 press conference announcing a lawsuit filed against the FBI.

((Khalil AlHajal | MLive))

FLINT, MI -- A federal judge has ruled that the FBI failed to show it made a good faith effort to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act by attorneys for the Insane Clown Posse seeking info on why the duo's Juggalos fans have been deemed a gang.

Flint U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith issued the written ruling Tuesday, Feb. 25, following a Jan. 16 summary disposition hearing where the FBI asked the judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by ICP in September 2012.

The lawsuit claims the band asked the FBI through an Aug. 24, 2012, Freedom of Information Act request for information regarding an investigation that led to the Juggalos being listed as a gang in the National Gang Intelligence Center's 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment Emerging Trends report.

Passages of the report refer to the Juggalos as a “loosely-organized hybrid gang” that “exhibit gang-like behavior and engage in criminal activity and violence."

FBI spokesman David Porter declined to comment on the ruling, citing ongoing litigation.

The FBI argued in its motion to dismiss, which was filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, that the bureau turned over all pertinent records in two separate releases.



However, attorneys from Hertz Schram, which represents the Oakland County-based duo, claimed that the FBI did not release all of the requested information and they questioned the adequacy of the bureau's search for documents.

"... (T)he FBI has not met its burden of demonstrating that its search for the requested records was sufficiently responsive to Plaintiff's FOIA request," Goldsmith wrote in his ruling.

The band's attorneys point to a March 11, 2012, FOIA request filed by the website MuckRock.com as proof that the FBI was not releasing all of the information sought by the FOIA request submitted by the band's attorneys.

MuckRock, which operates as a proxy service for individuals filing FOIA requests, submitted the request on behalf of a user, which the band's attorneys claim is "substantively identical" though differently worded than the band's request.

The band's attorneys argue in their response to the government's summary disposition motion that the band received and the response the MuckRock user received were different.

Goldsmith shot down the MuckRock argument, saying that the mere fact that additional documents may exist and were not disclosed did not make the FBI's record search inadequate.

However, Goldsmith ruled that the FBI's search was inadequate because the bureau did not sufficiently detail its search process and that the agency misconstrued the nature of the FOIA request.

Goldsmith ruled that the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center failed to detail how it organized or searched its files related to request nor did it detail its process used to ensure that it would respond appropriately.

The judge also ruled that FBI only responded to a portion of the FOIA request by turning over documents that the NGIC relied upon in classifying the Juggalos as a gang and not documents regarding the bureau's investigation into the Juggalos prior to the listing. Goldsmith also ruled that the FBI failed to turn over documents that were created after the creation of the 2011 report that were covered by the FOIA request.

Goldsmith has ordered Hertz Schram and the FBI to submit briefs in March on how the case should proceed after the ruling.

Four ICP fans, along with performers Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope -- whose real names are Joseph Bruce and Joseph Ulster -- filed a second lawsuit in January against the FBI that challenges the gang listing.

"To brand an entire group based on the actions of a few, it is wrong, it is ridiculous and the constitution does not allow it," said Saura Sahu, a lawyer working with the American Civil Liberties Union.

The government has not yet filed a response to the new lawsuit.