Touhy Requests

If you are involved in litigation and need to obtain official information, such as documents or testimony, from a government agency or department, you may need to submit “Touhy Requests” to that particular agency or department. Named after the Supreme Court case, United States ex rel. Touhy v. Ragen, 340 U.S. 462, 468 (1951), a Touhy Request is the procedural mechanism for obtaining government information needed for litigation purposes pursuant to an agency’s regulations governing the disclosure of information or testimony by its employees. These regulations are authorized under 5 U.S.C. § 301, known as the “housekeeping statute.”

Touhy Requests are typically used when the government entity is not a party to the lawsuit. While similar in purpose to subpoenas issued to non-party witnesses, Touhy Requests are distinct in that federal employees generally may not comply with subpoenas without prior agency approval. As a result, Touhy Requests are often submitted alongside a subpoena and usually take the form of a detailed written request, though some agencies require specific forms or additional documentation.

Common agencies which may be subject to Touhy Requests include the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Defense (DOD), or branches of the Office of Inspector General (OIG), such as the Social Security Administration (SSA), or the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), just to name a few. The standards governing these requests vary by agency and are set forth in their respective regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations. Requests to different agencies require different information and are evaluated under agency-specific criteria.