ACLU v. DOJ (N.D. Cal.) -- deciding that EOUSA and Criminal Division properly withheld vast majority of legal templates concerning government's use of mobile tracking technology under Exemption 5 (attorney work product), but rejecting government's reliance on Exemption 7(E).
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Murphy v. Exec. Office for U.S. Attorneys (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court's decision that grand jury information, including dates and times when grand jury convened, was properly withheld pursuant to Exemption 3.
Gahagan v. U.S. Customs & Border Prot. (E.D. La.) -- finding that government's declarations were not per se deficient for failing to identify the individual who conducted the search; (2) CBP and ICE did not establish that adequate searches were conducted, but Dep't of State made adequate showing; (3) State properly withheld visa information pursuant to Exemption 3 (8 U.S.C. § 1202(f)); and (4) records withheld by CPB and ICE required in camera inspection.
Kowack v. U.S. Forest Serv. (D. Mont.) -- ruling after in camera inspection of withheld records that agency did not properly apply Exemption 6.
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Gahagan v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Serv. (E.D. La.) -- ruling that USCIS conducted an adequate search; properly invoked Exemption 6 to withhold dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, and financial information; and properly referred records to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement notwithstanding ICE's four-month delayed response.
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Speaking Truth to Power v. Nat'l Nuclear Sec. Admin. (E.D. Pa.) -- denying as "futile" plaintiff's motion to add two agencies as defendants because: (1) plaintiff had failed to administratively appeal one agency's initial response; and (2) second putative defendant would not have responsive records not already maintained by named defendant.
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Am. Bird Conservancy v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv. (E.D. Va.) -- awarding plaintiff $106,000 in attorney's fees
Speaking Truth to Power v. DOD (E.D. Pa.) -- denying plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees
Ryan v. FBI (D.D.C) -- denying plaintiff's motion seeking recusal of presiding judge
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Trentadue v. FBI (D. Utah) -- following an in camera review, the court ruled that the government properly withheld records at issue pursuant to Exemption 1, 3, and 7(E).
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Prison Legal News v. Samuels (D.C. Cir.) -- reversing district court's favorable decision for Federal Bureau of Prisons, which had categorically invoked Exemptions 6 and 7(C) to withhold records about money paid in response to lawsuits against it. The D.C. Circuit found that the privacy interest involved in a given type of claim, as well as the public interest in disclosure, varied in ways that neither the agency nor the district court had considered.
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Bothwell v Brennan (N.D. Cal.) -- concluding that CIA's search was adequate, except for its search for documents generated in July 1976 regarding Johnny Roselli; the fact that Plaintiff believed that Mr. Roselli was involved in JFK's assassination was not a sufficient reason for agency to limit its search to JFK database.
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Turner v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury (E.D. Cal.) -- denying plaintiff's moton for appointment of counsel because court found that plaintiff was able to articulate his claims and no "exceptional circumstances" existed.
Wadelton v. U.S. Dep't of State (D.D.C.) -- finding search inadequate because agency did not search for certain paper records, but permitting employees who created records to conduct search for them. The court further found that agency properly invoked attorney work-product and deliberative process privileges to withhold records, but that agency did not establish that all reasonably segregable, non-exempt material had been releases. Related article from Courthouse News Service here.
Petrucelli v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that the FBI properly withheld information under Exemptions 7(D) and 7(E), but finding that EOUSA did not prove that Exemption 7(C) applied to information that it previously withheld under Exemptions 7(D) and (7)(F). Related article from Courthouse News Service here.
Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.
Yagman v. BOP (9th Cir.) -- affirming district court's opinion that a request for the names, prison numbers, and mailing addresses of all individuals in BOP's custody was properly denied pursuant to Exemption 6, 7(C), and 7(F).
List of all cases since April 2015 here.