Court opinions issued Aug. 5, 2016

Labow v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the FBI on claims under Exemption 7(D) and under the exclusion set forth in 5 U.S.C. § 552(c)(1); reversing the grant of summary judgment on challenges to FBI's withholdings under Exemption 3, specifically the Pen Register Act and Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e) (grand jury records); vacating as moot the district court's opinion with regard to Exemption 7(A).

GMBH v. Cent. Intelligence Agency (D.D.C.) -- determining that the CIA conducted a reasonable search for records pertaining to the head of East Germany's state security service, and that the agency properly withheld certain information pursuant to Exemption 3 (The National Security Act and the CIA Act).  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued Aug. 4, 2016

Myrick v. Johnson (D.D.C.) -- concluding that the Department of Homeland Security properly relied on Exemption 7(E) in refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records pertaining to a specific undercover operation.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued August 2, 2016

N.Y. Times Co. v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury (S.D.N.Y.) -- ruling that the Office of Foreign Assets Control properly withheld a memoranda as predecisional and deliberative under Exemption 5, but that the agency failed to show that it conducted an adequate search for the "governing legal protocol" that plaintiff had actually requested.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinions issued July 29, 2016

Am. Immigration Lawyers Ass'n v. Exec. Office for Immigration Review (D.C. Cir.) -- reversing district court's decision that the agency may categorically withhold under Exemption 6 the names of all immigration judges who are the subject of misconduct complaints; reversing the district's decision that the agency may redact information as non-responsive from a document deemed responsive to request; affirming district court's decision that records documenting the resolution of misconduct complaints need not be affirmatively disclosed under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)..

Pinson v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) the Federal Bureau of Prisons properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold third-party information from "Special Administrative Measures," memoranda, but failed to prove that Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) applied to those records; (2) BOP properly relied on Exemptions 6 and 7(C) to withhold third-party information from memoranda concerning inmate deaths; and (3) BOP properly relied on Exemption 5 and 6 to withhold portions of memorandum describing unsuccessful nominee for BOP Director.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued July 26, 2016

Gahagan v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs. (E.D. La.) -- finding that: (1) USCIS's revised Vaughn indices were not detailed enough to prove that Exemption 5 applied to four documents; (2) USCIS discharged its FOIA obligations with respect to remaining requested records, including properly invoking Exemptions 5 and 7(E), and; (3) plaintiff did not establish that USCIS should be held in civil contempt.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinion issued July 21, 2016

Berard v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons (D.D.C.) -- ruling that BOP properly relied upon Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E), and 7(F) to withhold certain information from a confidential informant report, but finding that the agency failed to release all segregable, non-exempt information.   

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.  

Court opinions issued July 19, 2016

Nat'l Ass'n of Criminal Def. Lawyers v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming the district court's decision that DOJ properly relied upon the attorney work-product privilege of Exemption 5 to withhold its "Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book," which contains "information and advice for prosecutors about conducting discovery in their cases, including guidance about the government's various obligations to provide discovery to defendants."  

Knuckles v. Dep't of the Army (S.D. Ga.) -- dismissing action as moot because agency provided pro se plaintiff with her employment records following lawsuit; denying plaintiff's claims for monetary damages, attorney fees, and the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate the agency; granting plaintiff's claim for costs because she substantially prevailed.  

Bloomgarden v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- concluding that agency properly redacted under Exemption 7(C) the names and signatures of government agents on proffer agreements that were otherwise disclosed to plaintiff.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.   

Court opinions issued July 18, 2016

Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. Dep't of Homeland Sec. (D.D.C.) -- reducing award of fees sought by plaintiff by seventy-six percent after determining that seventy-six percent of plaintiff's briefs pertained to issues upon which plaintiff did not prevail in the underlying litigation.     

Stein v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- (1) finding that the FBI properly invoked Exemption 7(D) to withhold information provided by a foreign source under an implied assurance of confidentiality; (2) ordering the FBI to process a separate request because the fees sought by the agency are prohibited due to agency's untimely response.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.   

Court opinions issued July 14, 2016

Detroit Free Press v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (6th Cir.) (en banc) -- Overruling its 1996 decision that individuals do not possess privacy interest in their booking photos and remanding case to district court to conduct a new balancing analysis.  

Florez v. Cent. Intelligence Agency (2nd Cir.) -- remanding case to district court to reconsider whether the CIA properly refused to confirm or deny the existence of records concerning plaintiff's father, a Cold War-era Cuban diplomat, in light of FBI's release of documents concerning the same individual during pendency of appeal.

Det. Watch Network v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enf't (S.D.N.Y.) -- rejecting government's argument that Exemptions 4 and 7(E) protected the unit prices, bed-day rates, and staffing plans in government contracts with private detention facility contractors.   

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued July 13, 2016

Rad v. U.S. Attorney's Office (D.N.J.) -- finding that the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys conducted a thorough search for records pertaining to plaintiff's criminal case, but that it failed to sufficiently explain its withholdings.  

Truthout v. Dep't of Justice (9th Cir.) (unpublished) -- affirming district court's decision that FBI properly invoked Exemption 7(E) to withhold records related to agency's practice of verifying privacy waivers. 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.