Berlant v. U.S. Election Assistance Comm’n (D. Or.) -- determining that: (1) agency performed adequate search for various records pertaining to its accreditation of voting system test laboratories (VSTLs); (2) agency properly relied on Exemption 4 to withhold certain records submitted by VSTLs, because those entities customarily kept those records documents private; moreover, the agency provided express and implied assurances to VSTLs that such records would remain confidential; and (3) agency properly invoked Exemption 6 to withhold work phone numbers of two former employees, as well as contact and insurance information of third parties.

Am. First Legal Found. v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- in case involving spreadsheet of enforcement actions taken against certain non-citizens, ruling that: (1) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold names of non-citizens, docket numbers, and full dates of birth, but that it had not justified the blanket withholding of birth months and years, residential addresses by city, state, and country, or gag, cartel, terrorist group affiliations, and monikers; rejecting plaintiff’s threshold argument that non-citizens have no privacy rights under FOIA, noting that plaintiff’s position was unsupported by the statute’s text and case law and would lead to absurd results; and (3) ICE properly invoked Exemption 7(E) to withhold precise addresses where at-large, non-citizens could be located, but it did not justify withholding city, state, and country data; further, ICE properly withheld operational details about its past and future attempts to locate non-citizens under Exemption 7(E), as well as “‘apprehension locations of non-citizens attempting to enter the U.S. illegally”; however, ICE fell short with respect to its Exemption 7(E) withholdings of the names of gang, cartel, and terrorist group affiliations, and monikers.

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