FOIA Advisor

Court opinions issued Sept. 1, 2015

Court Opinions (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

Plunkett v. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- granting in part and denying in part the Executive Office for United States Attorneys' motion for summary judgment concerning convicted murderer's request for records about his prosecution. The court found that government's declarations did not fully address:  (1) whether two binders of material identified in an email were, in fact, reviewed for responsive documents, and if so, what was found; (2) which, if any, of the documents originally referred to the Bureau of Prisons for review were withheld and, if so, which FOIA exemption was applicable; and (3) the segregability of portions of one document that the government withheld in part.  The court, however, upheld the government's use of Exemptions 5 (attorney work-product), 7(C), and 7(D).  

Henry v. Dep't of Justice (N.D. Cal.) -- ruling that the FBI and various U.S. Attorney's Offices conducted adequate searches in response to plaintiffs' requests for records about themselves.  

Gilliam v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- concluding that Criminal Division conducted a reasonable search for requested wiretap records and properly withheld records under Exemption 3 (in conjunction with 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521), Exemption 5 (attorney work-product), and Exemptions 6 and 7(C). 

Gamboa v. Exec. Office for U.S. Attorneys (D.D.C.) -- finding that the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted an adequate search for requested joint task force records, and that the FBI properly withheld records under Exemptions 7(D) and 7(F).

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.