Commentary The federal Freedom of Information Act has been contentious ever since its enactment over a half century ago, naturally pitting citizens seeking to hold their government to account against officials whose impulse, nefarious or not, is to control information. Decades later, it is by and large a case study in good intentions gone awry….

Commentary Frustrated over what they see as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s stonewalling, Senate Republicans fired off a critical letter this summer to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. An ordinary American, they grumbled, “would be entitled to receive more records from the SEC” than the powerful Senate Banking Committee lawmakers had received to date to perform their duly…