Khatchadourian v. DIA (D.D.C.) -- in dispute concerning records of task force that reviewed WikiLeaks disclosure, holding that: (1) DIA’s unprompted second-round review and production of records was not evidence of bad faith, as plaintiff asserted, but indication of agency’s commitment to FOIA compliance; (2) DIA properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 1. Exemption 3 in conjunction with 10 U.S.C. § 424 and 50 U.S.C. § 3024, and Exemption 5 (deliberative process privilege); and (3) agency was not required to unredact names of certain task force members because agency already disclosed that information on the record.
McWatters v. ATF (D.D.C.) - - ruling that ATF properly relied on Exemptions 6 & 7(C) to withhold portions of a recording of a rock concert in which 100 people died by fire, but that it neglected to address whether the last 8 minutes of the recording, when no human voices are audible, was segregable or exempt.
Viola v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) plaintiff failed to provide sufficient new or relevant evidence to overturn decision that EOUSA performed adequate search for records concerning plaintiff’s mortgage fraud conviction; and (2) FBI performed adequate search for records concerning plaintiff’s sentencing judge and properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 3 and 7(A), among others undisputed by plaintiff; and (3) parties were required to file joint status report or proposed briefing schedule as to FBI’s processing of records concerning former government informant.
SE Legal Found. v. DOJ (N.D. Ga.) -- deciding that DOJ performed reasonable search for records of attorney misconduct in connection with Carter Page’s FISA application, explaining that DOJ’s Mail Referral Unit reasonably forwarded request to the National Security Division and that plaintiff “accepted the inherent risk that the MRU [would] send the request to fewer or none of the components that [plaintiff believed were] relevant.”
Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) agency did not provide sufficient information to justify its reliance on Exemption 4 to withhold agency’s draft report that included information prepared by the State of Mississippi regarding its proposed flood control project; and (2) agency could not use Exemption 5 to withhold draft report because state agency was not a “quasi-federal” agency nor a consultant.
Jackson v. DOJ (N.D. Ill.) -- concluding that FBI properly invoked Exemption 7(C) to redact faces of third parties and license plate numbers from videos pertaining to plaintiff’s arrest and beating by a Joilet police officer in 2012.
Magassa v. TSA. (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) plaintiff exhausted his administrative remedies by filing an administrative appeal that challenged the entirety of TSA’s response, noting that he was not required to “challenge each component of TSA’s responses individually”; (2) TSA conducted adequate search for various records pertaining to plaintiff; (3) TSA properly invoked Exemption 3 in conjunction with 49 U.S.C. § 114(r) to withhold records, as well to refuse to confirm or deny existence of records indicating whether plaintiff’s name appears on a watch list; and (4) TSA properly withheld names of third parties pursuant to Exemption 6.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
