Animal Legal Defense Fund v. FDA (N.D. Cal.) -- on remand from the Ninth Circuit following the Supreme Court’s intervening Exemption 4 decision in Argus Leader, concluding that the FDA failed to establish that egg producers customarily and actually kept certain hen housing information private and confidential.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Bonner v. CIA (S.D.N.Y.) -- concluding that the CIA properly relied on Exemptions 1 and 3 to withhold two documents related to an al Qaeda training manual, but that Exemption 5 did not protect a draft intelligence report because because “it fails to identify any agency decision-making process in connection with which the document was created.”
The Cincinnati Enquirer v. DOJ (S.D. Ohio) -- ruling that DOJ justified withholding fewer than half of 205 pages concerning third party pursuant to Exemption 7(C), and that it was required to perform an additional search for records concerning “Operation Speakeasy.”
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Leopold v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- holding that an agency may satisfy foreseeable harm standard on a category-by-category basis, consistent with D.C. Circuit’s July 2, 2021 decision in Reporters Committee for Freedom of Press v. FBI, and that DOJ met its burden with respect to its Exemption 5 withholdings related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 presidential election.
The New York Times v. DOJ (S.D.N.Y.) -- on remand from the Second Circuit, finding that DOJ properly reprocessed memoranda concerning CIA interrogations overseas by releasing additional information previously withheld pursuant to Exemption 5 and continuing to withhold certain names pursuant to Exemptions 1 and 3.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
The Wolk Law Firm v. NTSB (E.D. Pa.) -- determining that NTSB properly withheld certain records pertaining to aircraft accidents. including death scene photographs, autopsies, and medical case reviews, pursuant to Exemption 6 and Exemption 5’s deliberative process, attorney work-product, and attorney-client privileges.
Int’l Refugee Assistance Proj. v. USCIS (S.D.N.Y.) -- concluding that: (1) plaintiff’s lawsuit seeking access to refugee resettlement application was not moot, because: (a) disclosure of some records by non-party Department of State in response to plaintiff’s separate request did not settle whether USCIS conducted adequate search; (b) plaintiff adequately pleaded a policy-or-practice claim regarding USCIS’s alleged refusal to search a database for refugee resettlement documents; and (2) granting plaintiff’s partial summary judgment motion and finding that USCIS failed to search the relevant database for responsive agency records.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Chelmowski v. United States (D.D.C.) -- finding that EPA performed adequate search for records pertaining to plaintiff and that it properly withheld certain records pertaining to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege and Exemption 6.
Chelmowski v. United States (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) FCC’s search fees and its demand for advanced payment were reasonable; (2) FCC and NARA performed adequate searches concerning plaintiff; and (3) government’s withholdings under Exemptions 4, 5, 6, and 7(E) were not directly challenged or undermined by plaintiff.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Property of the People v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- rejecting FBI’s claim that two files pertaining to Donald Trump are categorically exempt under Exemptions 7(D) and 7(E) solely because they are within an informant file.
Lopez-Pena v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- granting government’s summary judgment motion because plaintiff conceded that his lawsuit originated from a FOIA request that he incorrectly mailed to the wrong federal agency.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Advancement Proj. v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- concluding that: (1) with limited exceptions, ICE properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold records concerning visa sanctions, including briefing materials and communications about press strategy; and (2) ICE properly withheld two categories of records under Exemption 7(E), but it did not adequately spell out how disclosure of another category of records would reveal a law enforcement technique, procedure, or guideline.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Wash. Post v. SBA (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) SBA failed to show that interim loan status information was properly withheld under Exemption 4, in no small part because the agency declined to submit declarations from any loan recipients; and (2) SBA properly relied on Exemption 4 to withhold DUNS numbers associated with individual borrowers.
Open Soc’y Justice Initiative v. DOD (S.D.N.Y.) -- ruling that the CIA properly relied on Exemptions 1 and 3 in refusing to confirm or deny existence of records concerning five pandemic-related topics, but that it did not meet its burden of proof with respect to sixteen other pandemic-related topics.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Reporters Comm. for Freedom Press v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(E) to withhold various records concerning agency’s practice of impersonating journalists and documentary filmmakers, and noting that the foreseeable harm standard was inapplicable to that exemption; and (2) FBI failed to sufficiently explain how investigatory records concerning Cliven Bundy were protected by Exemption 7(A).
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Scott v. IRS (S.D. Fla.) -- concluding that plaintiff was eligible but not entitled to litigation costs because he failed to make a clear showing of substantial public benefit and was motivated by a commercial or financial interest.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.