Prot. Democracy Proj. v. HHS (D.D.C.) -- on renewed summary judgment, finding that HHS properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold record related to agency’s discontinuation of advertising for healthcare.gov in 2017-2017, but ordering in camera review of remaining disputed records in order to determine whether certain factual material is deliberative or not readily segregable and to determine whether other information is pre-decisional or post-decisional.
Taylor v. IRS (D.D.C.) -- concluding that IRS performed reasonable searches for records pertaining to plaintiff’s requests and that agency released all responsive records in full.
Ameen v. U.S. Dep’t of State (D.D.C.) -- ruling that plaintiff was not precluded from filing suit pro se, because the underlying FOIA requests “(1) indicated that counsel was requesting the documents in connection with and for use in the representation of plaintiff, and (2) contained release forms signed by plaintiff ‘authoriz[ing] and request[ing]’ the release of records to counsel.”
Shaklee & Oliver, P.C. v. USCIS (W.D. Wash.) -- denying award of attorney’s fees in case involving plaintiff’s requests for his Alien files, because no judicial order, written agreement, or consent decree existed and USCIS provided “compelling reasons” for its delay in processing records; further deciding that plaintiff’s motion for attorney’s fees improperly included references to settlement discussions with USCIS.
Open Soc’y Justice Initiative v. CIA (S.D.N.Y) -- determining that CIA properly relied on Exemption 1 to withhold its 2018 report concerning death of Jamal Khashoggi, and denying plaintiff’s reconsideration motion that permitted government to submit a “no numbers, no list” response pursuant to Exemptions 1 and 3.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.