Court opinions issued June 7, 2022

Inter-Cooperative Exch. v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce (9th Cir.) -- in a 2-1 decision, reversing and remanding district court’s decision and holding that agency employee failed to use adequate terms when searching his personal cell phone for records concerning the arbitration system that sets the price of crab.

Am. Small Bus. League v. SBA (N.D. Cal.) -- concluding that: (1) plaintiff was a representative of the news media for fee purposes, consistent with multiple court decisions holding that “non-profit organizations that conduct investigations and publish press release and other articles about their findings” so qualified; and (2) plaintiff failed to demonstrate that it was entitled to public interest waiver of duplication fees for requests seeking communications from agency’s press office and board members.

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

FOIA News: Final meeting of the 2020-2022 FOIA Advisory Committee

The FOIA Advisory Committee for the 2020-2022 will meet for the final time on Thursday, June 9, 2022., at 10am. Committee members will consider and vote on its final report and recommendations. View the proceedings live here.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee seeks nominees for 2022-2024 term

The National Archives and Records Administration is will be accepting nominees for membership on the 2022-2024 term of the Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee, according to notice to be published in the Federal Register on June 8, 2022. Nominations must be received by Thursday, June 30, 2022.

FOIA News: DHS Announces Move to New Case Management System

Change is Underway at DHS Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

DHS FOIA is moving to a NEW system which will allow us to process records faster. We expect to begin moving to the system in June. There may be a temporary delay in response to your request while launching the new system. 

The move will be staggered across DHS FOIA processing centers to minimize disruptions. We will provide dates for impacts at each DHS FOIA processing center as soon as they are available. We are giving you advance notice so that you can plan accordingly. We appreciate your patience as we move forward with this new technology.

PLEASE NOTE: This change event will NOT affect requests sent to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the United States Secret Service.  

If you have a Public Access Link (PAL) account at https://foiarequest.dhs.gov, you will need to create a new account after the move. Documents in your PAL account will remain available until the move to the new system is complete.  Please download any content from your PAL account you may need later!

Read more here.

Court opinions issued June 3, 2022

Eddington v. DOD (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that requester failed to present sufficient evidence to overcome agency’s declaration that it did not receive any of his requests emailed to 14 DOD components and rejecting appellant’s argument that district court abused its discretion in failing to order discovery.

Barnes v. FBI (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that requester’s criminal plea bargain precluded requester from seeking government records pertaining to his case, because government identified legitimate criminal-justice interest in enforcing waiver provision.

Fogg v. IRS (8th Cir.) -- reversing district court’s decision that IRS properly withheld portions of Internal Revenue Manual pursuant to Exemption 7(E) and remanding for in camera review, because agency’s declaration erroneously characterized the IRS solely as a law enforcement agency.

Am. Civil Liberties Union of Mass. v. ICE (D. Mass.) -- deciding that: (1) agency did not perform adequate search for records concerning a Massachusetts state judge and court security officer who helped a criminal defendant evade ICE arrest; (2) agency properly relied on Exemption 7(A) to withhold records related to pending criminal prosecution of the judge and court officer.

Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- on remand from D.C. Circuit, finding that agency properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege and met foreseeable harm requirement in withholding portions of draft OIG report regarding agency’s impersonation of a journalist in 2007.

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

Court opinion issued June 2, 2022

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Wash. v. U.S. Dep't of State (D.D.C.) -- deciding that: (1) agency properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold some, but not all, disputed records regarding a 2019 telephone conference call on international religious freedom; and (2) agency properly withheld email username of former Secretary Pompeo, but that agency improperly withheld government email domain address of former Deputy Secretary and the private email domain address of an agency employee.

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

FOIA News: GSA withholding names of Trump and Pence staffers

Trump staffer records should remain secret, Biden administration lawyers argue

Dave Levinthal, Insider, June 3, 2022

• Insider filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records about Trump and Pence's post-presidency transition offices.

• General Services Administration officials refused to release some records, and Insider sued.

• The lawsuit is pending in federal district court.

There is "no discernible public interest" in disclosing the identities of six taxpayer-funded staffers who worked for former President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence after they left office, Biden administration lawyers told a federal district court Wednesday. 

Releasing the Trump and Pence staffers' names would "constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of their privacy," according to a motion filed by Department of Justice attorneys, including US Attorney Matthew Graves, who President Joe Biden nominated. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA training for NPR

National Public Radio will provide a free FOIA training session on June 15, 2022, from 3pm to 4pm.

Court opinion issued May 31, 2022

Am. Civil Liberties Union of Me. Found. v. USCIS (D. Me.) -- concluding that: (1) agency reasonably declined to search thousands of A-Files for certain requested documents because search would be too burdensome, and that agency’s search for other records was adequate; (2) agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege and Exemption (7C); (3) agency properly relied on Exemption 6 to withhold asylum applicant names, addresses, names of relatives, and addresses of relatives, but improperly withheld citizenship information, country of origin, political affiliation, roles in political elections, and religious affiliation; and (4) agency properly invoked Exemption 7(E) to withhold certain records related to detecting fraudulent asylum applications, but ordering disclosure or in camera review for other withheld records.

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

FOIA News: Billionaires use FOIA, too (but presumably can afford to pay all fees)

Billionaire Koch Brother Files FOIA Against FBI in Crusade Against Counterfeit Wine

Am. L. Media, May 31, 2022

Bond, Schoeneck & King filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI Saturday in New York Southern District Court on behalf billionaire and collector Bill Koch and wine commentator Bradley Goldstein.

The complaint, which arises from Koch’s attempts to expose alleged fraud within the international rare wine market, seeks records related to wine distributor Royal Wine Merchants and deceased wine counterfeiter Meinhard Gorke a/k/a ‘Hardy Rodenstock’ and ‘Meinhard Lehner.’

The case is 1:22-cv-04421, Koch et al v. Federal Bureau Of Investigation.

A copy of the complaint is here.