FOIA Advisor

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Court opinions issued July 24-July 27, 2017

July 27, 2017

White v. Office of the Fed. Defender for the Middle Dist. of Fla. (S.D. Ill.) -- spontaneously dismissing lawsuit as frivolous because defendant is not a federal agency subject to FOIA.

July 26, 2017

Am. Marine v. IRS (S.D. Cal.) -- ruling that: (1) IRS failed to demonstrate that it performed reasonable search for responsive records; (2) IRS properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 3 (26 U.S.C. § 6103(e)(7)), 5, 7(A), and 7(D); (3) IRS failed to address whether "Risk Score" withheld under Exemption 7(E) was technique unknown to public; and (4)  judgment would be reserved as to Exemption 3 (26 U.S.C. § 6103(a)) and Exemption 6 until record was further developed.

July 25, 2017

Jackson v. GSA (E.D. Pa.) -- concluding that both GSA and Treasury performed reasonable searches for records concerning plaintiff's unsuccessful application for employment as IRS agent.

James Madison Project v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- finding that Department of Defense performed an adequate search for certain records concerning soldier's memoir about killing Osama Bin Laden, and that agency properly withheld information pursuant to Exemption 5 (which plaintiff conceded).  

July 24, 2017

Stein v. SEC (D.D.C.) -- deciding that: (1) agency was obliged to search for certain requested records even though plaintiff once had access to them during discovery phase of litigation; (2) agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 3 (Bank Secrecy Act), 7(A), and 7(C); and (3) plaintiff failed to provide sufficient information to determine whether certain records withheld under Exemption 7(A) were also properly withheld under Exemption 5 

Gahagan v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs. (E.D. La.) -- determining that FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(E) to withhold certain information from two pages referred to it by USCIS.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.