Court opinions issued Feb. 3 & Feb. 4, 2016

Feb. 4, 2016

Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- finding that the government's declarations were too broad in scope for court to make a determination about the information withheld from records concerning a now-expired national security program. 

Feb. 3, 2016

San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Auth. v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior (E.D. Cal.) -- rejecting plaintiff's argument that the government had waived its ability to withhold any requested records pertaining to the subject matter of a final agency opinion that had been released in full.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Feb. 2, 2016

Judicial Watch v. U.S. Dep't of Def. (D.D.C.) -- ruling that the agency properly relied on the deliberative process privilege to redact a memorandum relating to transfer five Guantanamo Bay detainees to the state of Qatar in exchange for the return of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.  In reaching its decision, the court rejected plaintiff's argument that the agency had adopted, incorporated, or relied upon the memorandum so as to lose the protection of the privilege.  

Polk v. Fed. Bureau of Investigation (N.D. Cal.) -- denying plaintiff's motion under Rule 60(b) of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for relief from decision granting summary judgment to agency.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Feb. 1, 2016

Kalu v. Internal Revenue Serv. (D.D.C.) -- holding that the FBI properly relied upon Exemption 7(E) in refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records indicating whether plaintiff was on an agency "watch list."  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Jan. 29, 2016

Rocky Mountain Wild v. U.S. Forest Serv. (D. Colo.) -- finding that: (1)  the agency mistakenly interpreted plaintiff's request as seeking external communications only and was required to search for internal communications; (2) the agency failed to perform an adequate search for the the external communications sought; (3) a portion of records withheld under Exemption 5 were justified, but that agency's Vaughn Index was insufficient with respect to other withheld records; (4) plaintiff conceded the agency's withholdings under Exemption 6; (5) plaintiff's allegations of agency bad faith and a  "pattern and practice" of violating FOIA were not justified by the record.  

Henderson v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- determining that the Executive Office for United States Attorneys conducted an adequate search for certain records concerning plaintiff's criminal case and that it properly withheld identifying information about third parties pursuant to Exemptions 6 and 7(C).  

 Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Jan. 26-Jan. 28, 2016

Jan. 28, 2016

Inst. for Policy Studies v. U.S. Cent. Intelligence Agency (D.D.C.) -- granting the government's request to reconsider the court's August 19, 2015 decision, and concluding that the CIA need not search its "operational files" in response to plaintiff's request.

Lucaj v. U.S. Fed. Bureau of Investigation (E.D. Mich.) -- ruling that the Department of Justice (DOJ) properly invoked Exemption 5 and 7(C) to protect requested records about the government's involvement in plaintiff's arrest in Vienna, Austria.  Of note, the court held that communications between DOJ and two foreign governments qualified as "inter-agency" for Exemption 5 purposes because the foreign governments had a common interest with the United States. 

Competitive Enterprise Inst.  v. U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency (D.D.C.) -- dismissing plaintiff's action as moot because the parties had resolved the underlying dispute set forth in the complaint, namely the propriety of EPA's production schedule (100 of 120,000 pages monthly).  The court rejected plaintiff's argument that the complaint sought to challenge the agency's redactions or that plaintiff alleged or demonstrated a "pattern or practice" of violating FOIA by "slow-walking" requests.   

Jan. 27, 2016

Petrucelli v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- ruling that the Executive Office for United States Attorneys properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to redact the identities of FBI personnel, witnesses, and plaintiff's attorney from correspondence between the plaintiff's criminal defense counsel and government prosecutors.  

Donoghue v. Office of Info. Policy (D.D.C.) -- finding that the FBI demonstrated that it conducted an adequate search for information responsive to pro se prisoner's FOIA request and that it maintained no responsive records.

Jan. 26, 2016

Main St. Legal Servs., Inc. v. Nat'l Sec. Council (2nd Cir.) -- affirming district court's decision that the NSC (i.e., the Council and the NSC System generally) is not an agency subject to FOIA.  In reaching its decision, the Second Circuit relied, in part, upon the statutory function of the Council, which is solely advisory to, and not independent of, the President. 

Ewell v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- determining that the Criminal Division conducted an adequate search for wiretap records concerning plaintiff, a pro se prisoner, and that the agency properly withheld all records pursuant to Exemption 3 (18 U.S.C. § 2518) and Exemption 5 (attorney work-product).

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Jan. 22, 2016

Shapiro v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- denying the parties' summary judgment motions in case involving various documents that the FBI creates while processing FOIA requests, namely search slips, processing notes, and case evaluation forms.  Notably, the court rejected the FBI's policy of using Exemption 7(E) to withhold search slips and processing notes generated in response to FOIA requests submitted in the past 25 years for information contained in investigative files.  The court further held that the FBI could not categorically withhold case evaluation forms under Exemption 2, but that it could redact the names of individual analysts under Exemption 6.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Jan. 21, 2016

Morley v. Cent. Intelligence Agency (D.C. Cir.) -- vacating for a second time the district court's decision that appellant was not entitled to an attorney's fee award with respect to his request for records about CIA officer George E. Joannides.  In rejecting the district court's analysis, the D.C. Circuit clarified that "the public-benefit factor requires an ex ante assessment of the potential public value of the information requested, with little or no regard to whether any documents supplied prove to advance the public interest." 

Al Azzawi v. Dep't of the Army (E.D. Cal.) -- recommendation from magistrate judge to dismiss case because plaintiff failed to submit an administrative appeal to the agency.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued Jan. 15, 2016

Nat'l Sec. Counselors v. Cent. Intelligence Agency & U.S. Dep't of Def. (D.C. Cir.) -- holding that appellant was eligible for attorney's fees because it was a bona fide corporation with a legally recognized, distinct identity from the natural person who acted as its lawyer; reversing decision of the district court, which had viewed appellant as essentially a "one-man operation."  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinions issued Jan.12, 2016

Jan. 12, 2016

Bethea v. U.S. Dep't of Agric. (D.S.C.) (magistrate) -- recommending summary judgment in government's favor after finding that USDA had conducted a reasonable search and released in full all records that it located in response to pro se prisoner's request. 

Pebble Ltd. v. U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency (D. Alaska) -- holding that the EPA properly invoked Exemption 5 to withhold draft assessments and internal emails relating to plaintiff's plans to extract minerals from the Pebble Mine deposit in Southwest Alaska.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued Jan. 8, 2015

Schwartz v. Drug Enforcement Admin. (E.D.N.Y) -- ordering the release of a video taken by a government surveillance plane depicting a drug interdiction operation in Honduras, rejecting the agency's reliance upon Exemption 7(E) except with respect to one redaction.

Jett v. Fed. Bureau of Investigation (D.D.C.) -- denying government's motion for reconsideration of court's decision that FBI's search had been inadequate.  Specifically, the court held that FBI could not categorically refuse to search for third-party records involving public corruption in a congressional election in light of D.C. Circuit precedent.  Further, the court found that FBI failed to offer any new evidence as to why it did not search its electronic surveillance files for telephone records. 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.