Court opinions issued Aug. 9, 2018

Competitive Enter. Inst. v. Dep't of Treasury (D.D.C.) -- ruling that agency properly invoked Exemption 1 to withhold letter exchanged between Bank of England and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

Milbrand v. U.S. Dep't of Labor (E.D. Mich.) -- finding that agency performed adequate search for business email addresses of state compliance officers, and the agency properly withheld business email address of federal compliance officers pursuant to Exemption 6. 

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: POTUS may "get involved" in FOIA for McCabe texts

Trump threatens to 'get involved' in watchdog group's efforts to obtain McCabe text messages

By Avery Anapol, The Hill,  Aug. 11, 2018

President Trump on Saturday criticized the FBI for not turning over former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe’s text messages to right-leaning watchdog group Judicial Watch.

The group is pursuing the texts through Freedom of Information Act requests to the Justice Department,  seeking communications and text messages from a number of current and former FBI officials.

The president threatened in a misspelled tweet to “get involved” in the effort, and warned the FBI not to “destroy” the items.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Aug. 6, 2018

Advocates for the West v. DOJ (D. Idaho) -- concluding that Office of Legal Counsel properly relied on attorney-client, deliberative process, and presidential communications privileges to withhold twelve legal memoranda regarding the President's authority to alter national monuments. 

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here

Court opinions issued Aug. 3, 2018

Bartko v. DOJ (D.C. Cir.) -- ruling that: (1) Office of Professional Responsibility had "not come close to showing" that records of allegations of misconduct against senior prosecutor were compiled for law enforcement purposes, reversing  district's decision concerning OPR's Exemption 7(C) "Glomar" response; (2) OPR "dropped the ball" in withholding investigatory records concerning plaintiff pursuant to Exemptions 6 and 7(C), but properly withheld documents pursuant to deliberative process privilege; (3) FBI, SEC, IRS, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 7(C); (4) in light of intervening case law, district court needed to reconsider FBI's use of Exemption 3 to withhold records produced in response to grand jury subpoena; and (5) SEC performed reasonable search and properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 5 and 8.

Brennan Ctr. for Justice v. DHS (S.D.N.Y.) -- finding that FBI performed adequate search for records concerning "Countering Violent Extremism Initiative, and that FBI and/or DHS properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 1, 3, 5, 7(D), and 7(E).  

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued July 31, 2018

Lantz v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce (D.D.C.) -- in what might be the first FOIA opinion to include photograph, finding that U.S. Patent and Trade Office performed reasonable search for trademark application for " Eat More Kale" and that agency properly withheld records pursuant to deliberative process privilege.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinions issued July 26, 2018

Butler v. DOL (D.D.C.) -- finding that Occupational Safety and Health Administration properly withheld records of accident investigation records pursuant to Exemptions 4, 7(C), and 7(D), except for portion of service agreement that did not contain "pricing and cost data." 

Doyle v. DHS (S.D.N.Y.) -- holding that: (1) government properly withheld records of visitors to White House because they are not subject to FOIA, per D.C. Circuit case law; (2) government performed adequate search for records of presidential visitors at Mar-a-Lago; and (3) government properly withheld records concerning President's schedule because they are not subject to FOIA, but was required to process "operational records" pertaining to Japanese Prime Minister's visit to Mar-a-Lago. 

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued July 25, 2018

Envtl. Integrity Project v. EPA (D.D.C.) -- denying plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees in case involving Scott Pruitt's travel vouchers and meetings with outside parties, because: (a) EPA exercised due diligence in processing request; (b) lawsuit was not catalyst for production; and (c) court order regarding proposed briefing schedule did not provide "relief" to plaintiff. 

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued July 24, 2018

Fleming v. Medicare Freedom of Info. Grp. (D.D.C.) -- denying pro se inmate's motion for permission to file motion to proceed in forma pauperis, motion for appointment of counsel, motion for discovery, and motion for expedited proceedings, because court previously considered and rejected duplicate motions. 

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinions issued July 23, 2018

Kansas ex rel Schmidt v. DOD (D. Kan.) -- following in camera review of five documents pertaining to proposed closing of Guantanamo Bay detention center, concluding that: (1) agency improperly relied on deliberative process privilege to withhold information about actual costs of housing various prisoners; (2) agency properly invoked deliberative process privilege to withhold projected costs of moving Guantanamo Bay prisoners; and (3) agency properly withheld draft email pursuant to deliberative process privilege, but improperly relied on same privilege to withhold identity of another agency.

Villar v. FBI (D.N.H.) -- ruling that FBI properly invoked Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), and 7(E) to withhold records, or portions thereof, concerning agency's investigation of plaintiff-inmate's criminal activity. 

Mora-Villalpando v. ICE (W.D. Wa.) -- denying government's motion to strike Complaint's allegations that ICE illegally targeted plaintiff and other immigration activists, because allegations would be relevant to "public interest" factors considered under Exemptions 6 and 7(C) and for attorney's fees.      

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued July 19, 2018

Sikes v. U.S. Dep't of the Navy (11th Cir.) -- holding that: (1) district court erred in allowing Navy to ignore plaintiff's request for certain records concerning suicide of Admiral Boorda merely because agency had released records in response to plaintiff's duplicate request five years earlier; (2) although district court failed to address whether Navy properly withheld suicide note from Admiral Boorda to his wife pursuant to Exemption 7(C), there was no need to remand case because law was clear that note was properly protected from disclosure.  

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 available here.