The Yale Law School Center for Global Legal Challenges has filed a complaint with the U.S. State Department claiming the agency has not acted on a Freedom of Information Act request for certain documents related to international treaty agreements.

In the complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Hartford, Yale is seeking immediate access to precise legal citations for unclassified non-Article II treaty international agreements between the U.S. government and foreign states during the last four presidential administrations.

The U.S. enters into hundred of international agreements each year on topics ranging from trade policy to nuclear energy to criminal law enforcement.

The Yale complaint states that, while the State Department has made available texts of unclassified non-Article II treaty international agreements to which it is a party, it hasn't released records specifying which of the three sources of authority underlie each agreement. The three types of agreements and their authorizing bodies are: Article II Treaty, approved by the U.S. Senate; executive constitutional authority, in which the president can act alone; or congressional statute, requiring full congressional approval.

The FOIA complaint was filed on behalf of Yale law professor Oona Hathaway as part of a study to “understand the sources of authority for the international agreements that exist,” according to Hannah Bloch-Wehba, a Stanford fellow for the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale.

Bloch-Wehba said Friday the complaint is necessary because the State Department had not responded to its FOIA request in 266 days. “I have no idea why they have not given us the information,” Bloch-Wehba said.

The complaint cites two counts: violation of FOIA for wrongful withholding of agency records and for failure to make records available under the “Reading Room” provision, which requires agencies to make available electronic versions of documents not published in the Federal Register.

The complaint states Yale's nonprofit Center for Global Legal Challenges seeks to create a database cataloging the legal authority behind thousands of non-Article II treaty international agreements signed by the United States.

The center works to connect academic experts and students with people in the public and private sectors who are involved in global legal issues.

The complaint seeks immediate disclosure by the State Department of the records sought by Yale, and to award Yale the costs, including legal fees, associated with filing the complaint.

The State Department's press office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Assisting Bloch-Wehba is David Schulz, co-director for the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale.

The case is scheduled to be heard by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant.