WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- The Justice Department Thursday announced it is dropping its controversial plan to allow officials to deny the existence of certain sensitive documents when confronted with thorny Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) requests . The provision in proposed FOIA regulations had stirred criticism from both ends of the political spectrum , from the American Civil Liberties Union and from other open-government groups . The decision was announced in a Justice Department letter to Sen. Charles Grassley , R-Iowa , who had led the fight against the rule change . `` We will not include that provision when the Department issues final regulations , '' the Justice Department said . In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder last Friday , Grassley vowed to `` take all necessary steps '' to block the rule that would have allowed the government to `` deceive '' people about the existence of information . In its response , the Justice Department said the agency had in practice handled certain sensitive records as excludable since 1987 , when then-Attorney General Ed Meese first issued guidance saying the best way to deal with these sensitive records was to deny they existed . Meese had specifically referred to narrow categories which dealt with national-security information and requests for information relating to an ongoing criminal investigation in which the target is unaware of a probe . The government said it was not really `` lying '' to declare that `` there exist no records responsive to your FOIA request . '' The government maintains that specific was `` wholly accurate '' because in these sensitive cases the only records that exist are not subject to the FOIA act . Grassley , however , said a response that there are `` no records '' when such records , in fact , exist could undermine the public trust in government . Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy , D-Vermont , was quick to applaud the decision to drop the proposed change . `` For five decades , the Freedom of Information Act has given life to the American value that in an open society , it is essential to carefully balance the public 's right to know and government 's need to keep some information secret , '' Leahy said . The ACLU also applauded the Justice Department decision . `` Government accountability can only be assured through transparency , '' said Laura Murphy , director of the ACLU Washington legislative office .
Former Attorney General Bush first issued guidance in 1987 on whether sensitive records exist . That was in response to Freedom of Information requests for doucments . The Department said it was not really ` ` lying '' to ' ` ` there exist no records responsive '' But the Justice Department says it is dropping a plan to allow such denials .