Dec. 18, 2024
Leopold v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- in dispute over the Attorney General’s communications referencing voting irregularities in the 2020 election, deciding that DOJ properly withheld all but one document pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege and/or Exemption 7(E); rejecting DOJ’s argument that Exemption 5 applied to so-called “talking points,” because the document read “very much like a fixed script” or a “final set of instructions promulgated by office leadership for staff to follow,” as opposed tp “mere suggestions”; further noting that DOJ failed to show how “previously cleared-for-release responses” would cause harm if released.
Haleem v. DOD (D.D.C.) -- in case concerning agency’s revocation of plaintiff’s security clearance, ruling that: (1) plaintiff’s duplicative request sought only records that the agency had previously withheld, and therefore the court would abstain from reviewing the adequacy of the agency’s original search; (2) plaintiff exhausted his administrative remedies by appealing from the agency’s denial of plaintiff’s duplicate request; (3) in camera review confirmed that agency properly relied on Exemption 7(E) to withhold responsive records detailing procedures and techniques used for law-enforcement purposes; moreover, because the agency demonstrated that disclosure created risk of circumvention of law, no further foreseeable harm analysis was necessary.
Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.