Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research. v. NIH (4th Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision after finding that: (1) agency’s failure to meet FOIA’s response deadline for issuing a final determination did not preclude summary judgment in agency’s favor or warrant any additional relief for appellant; (2) agency established with “sufficiently detailed” declarations that it performed adequate searches for records concerning the submission and withdrawal of sequencing data regarding the origin of COVID-19; (3) agency properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to redact draft Q&A in response to a foreign news article, as well as draft responses to a congressional inquiry; and (4) agency properly relied on Exemption 6 to redact contact information of NIH employees and the identity of a Wuhan University researcher, rejecting appellant’s “attenuated” argument that disclosure would promote the public’s knowledge about the origin of the pandemic.

Walker v. Donovan (D.D.C.) -- denying plaintiff’s motion for attorney’s fees stemming from request for Air Force’s investigatory records concerning plaintiff; rejecting plaintiff’s argument that the lawsuit was a catalyst for the release of records, in part because the Air Force began processing plaintiff’s request “well before [plaintiff] initiated his lawsuit”; accepting agency’s explanation that delays were due to “its other duties, including processing [plaintiff’s] FOIA appeal, ‘staffing issues and the press of other business in the Air Force Operations Agency FOIA office,’ . . . and significant telework constraints during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.