FOIA Advisor

Court opinion issued Mar. 12, 2024

Court Opinions (2024)Allan BlutsteinComment

Project South v. USCIS (S.D.N.Y.) -- regarding disputed responses from ICE, DHS, and State Department to requests about the removals of Cameroonian and other African migrants in 2020 and early 2021, finding that: (1) State established that it conducted an adequate search, but not that it properly withheld draft talking points pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege; (2)(a) ICE did not perform an adequate search for records; (b) ICE did not show that Exemption 3, in conjunction with 8 U.S.C. § 1367(a)(2), applied to detainees' travel documents and immigration proceedings, but such information was properly withheld pursuant to Exemptions 6 and 7(C); and (c) ICE properly relied on the deliberative process privilege to withhold internal discussions about logistics for removal flights; (d) ICE properly withheld an intelligence report, information on removal operations, and negotiations with a foreign government under Exemption 7(E); and (3) DHS failed to prove as a matter of law that they conducted an adequate search.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

Q&A: Unappealing options

Q&A (2024)Allan BlutsteinComment

Q. Federal agencies often take many years to issue a determination letter in response to FOIA requests. Is protracted delay a viable basis for appeal, and are such appeals ever advisable?

A. When an agency fails to respond to a FOIA request within the statutory deadline (whether the delay is one day or several years), the requester is entitled to file a lawsuit in federal court. No administrative appeal is necessary. In response to an appeal disputing a delay, agencies typically close the appeal without issuing a decision—at most, notifying agency officials handling the request that an appeal was received. This is because the statute authorizes administrative appeals only in response to an “adverse determination,” and most agencies do not consider delay to be a “determination.” In sum, appealing an agency’s delay might spur the agency’s processing staff to respond, but it has no legal effect.

Court opinion issued Mar. 10, 2024

Court Opinions (2024)Allan BlutsteinComment

Wash. Lawyers' Comm. For civil Rights & Urban Affairs v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) plaintiff was not required to exhaust administrative remedies to maintain a pattern-or-practice claim alleging delays in responses by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to counsel requests for client records; (2) government was entitled to summary judgment on plaintiff’s pattern-or-practice claim because plaintiff failed to rebut defendant’s evidence that it did not have a policy or practice of violating FOIA; and (3) in the interest f judicial economy, plaintiff’s 39 individual FOIA requests would severed (with one exception), requiring plaintiff to refile them as separate actions.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

Court opinions issued Mar. 7-8, 2024

Court Opinions (2024)Allan BlutsteinComment

Mar. 8, 2024

Maritime Documentation Ctr. Corp. v. U.S. Coast Guard (9th Cir.) (unpublished) -- affirming district court’s decision granting summary judgment to agency with respect to its Exemption 6 redactions of personally identifiable information of owners of Coast Guard-registered vessels.

Stevens v. Broad. Bd. of Governors (N.D. Ill.) -- denying plaintiff an award of attorney’s fees because: (1) the court’s supervision of agencies’ search, review, and production of responsive documents occurred while plaintiff was pro se; and (2) documents produced after plaintiff’s attorney filed an appearance were not produced pursuant to court order, all but two of 12 agencies produced all of their records before the attorney’s appearance, and plaintiff’s appearance did not prompt production of records from those two agencies.

Jordan v. DEA (D.D.C.) -- concluding that agency properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold the names of agency agents involved in plaintiff’s criminal investigation.

Mar. 7, 2024

WP Co. v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) CIA failed to adequately explain how it searched for 56 “CIA Histories,” and it failed to perform a promised supplemental search; (2) CIA properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemption 1, but did not establish “how the apparently innocuous information that [plaintiff] has identified could cause the harms that the CIA asserts; (3) CIA failed to show how release of information withheld under Exemption 3 in conjunction with the National Security Act could harm national security; (4) CIA properly withheld information pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with the CIA Act, as well as identifying information of third parties pursuant to Exemption 6.

Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2024 are available here. Earlier opinions are available here.

FOIA News: Recap of NARA's Sunshine Week event

FOIA News (2024)Allan BlutsteinComment

Sunshine Week Panel Addresses Impact of AI on Open Government

By Cara Moore Lebonick, National Archives News, Mar. 15, 2024

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2024 – Sunshine Week is an annual nonpartisan celebration of the importance of publicly available records and the practice of open government to drive civic engagement. In recognition of the week, on March 14, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) hosted a panel discussion titled, “Artificial Intelligence: The Intersection of Public Access and Open Government.”

In recognition of the Sunshine Week, on March 14, the National Archives hosted a panel discussion titled, “Artificial Intelligence: The Intersection of Public Access and Open Government.” National Archives photo by Susana Rabb.

Director of the Office of Government Information Services Alina Semo kicked off the event and introduced Deputy Archivist of the United States William Bosanko.

Read more here.

FOIA News: More coverage of GAO's report on FOIA backlogs

FOIA News (2024)Allan BlutsteinComment

During Sunshine Week, GAO finds agencies need better plans to address surging FOIA backlogs

FOIA backlogs have been on the rise across government for the past decade, but many agencies lack detailed goals and milestones to reduce the backlogs.

By Justin Doubleday, Fed. News Network, Mar. 14, 2024

The Justice Department is developing new Freedom of Information Act guidance to ensure agencies have adequate plans to address mounting FOIA backlogs across government.

Even though FOIA backlogs have been on the rise since 2012, many agencies lack detailed goals and milestones for addressing the logjam of requests, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week. Agencies are generally required to process FOIA requests within 20 days, and a request is considered backlog when it takes longer than the required time.

Out of 14 agencies directed to develop plans in 2023, only two includes goals and none included any timelines for carrying out their actions, GAO’s report found. The auditors noted the backlogs have led to extended wait times for public records requests. The governmentwide FOIA backlog sits at more than 200,000 cases.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Recap of DOJ's Sunshine Week event

FOIA News (2024)Allan BlutsteinComment

The Department of Justice Celebrates Sunshine Week

DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Mar. 14, 2024

The Office of Information Policy (OIP) celebrated its annual kick-off to Sunshine Week at the Department of Justice and via livestream on March 11, 2024.  The event featured remarks from Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer and OIP Director Bobak Talebian, as well as the presentation of the 2024 Sunshine Week FOIA Awards. 

Read more here.