Court opinion issued Apr. 23, 2021

Am. Ctr. for Law & Justice v. U.S. Dep't of State (D.D.C.) -- on renewed summary judgment concerning edited video of press briefing , ruling that: (1) agency justified redaction of one email pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege; (2) agency properly redacted second email pursuant to Exemption 6 and plaintiff conceded agency’s Exemption 5 withholdings; and (3) agency failed to show that email chain about press guidance and strategy related to Iran was properly withheld pursuant to Exemption 5’s presidential communication privilege.

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

Court opinion issued Apr. 21, 2021

Am. Small Bus. League v. OMB (N.D. Cal.) -- granting government’s motion to sever plaintiff’s FOIA claims against OMB and the Small Business Administration because plaintiff’s requests sought different types of records from each agency.

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

Court opinions issued Apr. 20, 2021

Woodward v. USMS (D.D.C.) -- deciding that: (1) U.S. Marshals Service did not adequately justify its reliance on Exemption 7(E) to withhold records regarding agency’s use of cellphone tracking technology during its investigation of plaintiff, and (2) court would review in camera all records withheld pursuant to Exemption 7(C) in light of plaintiff’s status as death row inmate.

Cause of Action Inst. v. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs (D.D.C.) -- ruling that agency properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold assessments created by agency contractor in preparation for agency’s ”implementation of the congressionally mandated Market Area Health System Optimization . . . analysis, part of a broader national plan to improve the delivery of health care to veterans.”

See related article here.

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

Court opinion issued Apr. 16, 2021

Poulsen v. DOD (9th Cir.) -- in a 2-1 decision, reversing district court’s decision that plaintiff was ineligible for attorney’s fees and remanding case for a determination concerning plaintiff’s entitlement to such fees. Here, the majority concluded that plaintiff substantially prevailed under 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(E)(ii)(I), because the district court issued a scheduling order when the government agreed to process documents following an intervening declassification order from President Trump. The dissent argued that plaintiff was ineligible for fees because he failed to show that his lawsuit “was a substantial cause (or indeed any cause at all) of the relief he obtained.”

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

Court opinion issued Apr. 12, 2021

N.Y. Times v. BOP (S.D.N.Y.) -- ordering in camera review of documents pertaining to the death of Jeffrey Epstein, which BOP withheld under Exemption 7(A).

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

Court opinion issued April 9, 2021

Greene v. DOJ (D. Minn.) -- ruling that: (1) plaintiff’s untimeliness claim was moot because EOUSA responded to plaintiff’s request, which sought statistical information about grand juries, after plaintiff filed his Complaint; (2) plaintiff constructively exhausted his administrative remedies with respect to the adequacy of EOUSA’s search, but granting summary judgment in agency’s favor.

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

Court opinions issued Apr. 5-6, 2021

Apr. 6, 2021

Cox. v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury (D.D.C.) -- dismissing claim because plaintiff failed to administratively appeal from Internal Revenue Service’s responses to his requests.

Apr. 5, 2021

Human Rights Def. Ctr. v. DHS (W.D. Wash.) -- deciding that DHS improperly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold names of Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees from certain civil settlement agreements.

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

Court opinion issued Apr. 2, 2021

Aguiar v. DEA (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that DEA was not required to use GPS data spreadsheets to recreate map images that had been used in plaintiff’s criminal trial but no longer existed.

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

Court opinions issued Mar. 31, 2021

Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv. (D.D.C.) -- ruling that government properly invoked Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold biological evaluations and biological opinions on certain pesticides under the Endangered Species Act, but failed to identify segregable material in two records.

Property of the People v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- concluding that FBI performed inadequate search for records relating to the documentary film “Cowspiracy,” the term “ag-gag,” and certain pieces of enumerated legislation.

Hall & Assoc. v. EPA (D.D.C.) -- granting in part and denying in part EPA’s summary judgment motion relying on Exemption 5 to withhold twelve documents pertaining to agency’s non-acquiescence to Eighth Circuit’s decision in Iowa League of Cities v. EPA.

Burnett v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- finding that DEA performed adequate search for records concerning plaintiff’s criminal prosecution and that it properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E), and 7(F).

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

Court opinion issued Mar. 30, 2021

Shem-Tov v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- on renewed summary judgment, determining that the U.S. National Central Bureau properly relied on Exemption 7(D) to withhold records pertaining to plaintiff provided by a foreign law enforcement entity.

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