Court opinions issued Aug. 2, 2022

Fair Lines Am. Found. v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce (D.D.C.) -- ruling that Census Bureau properly withheld certain aggregated data under Exemption 3 in conjunction with 13 U.S.C. § 9(b), because agency plausibly explained that disclosure “would contribute to the ability of a third party to reconstruct the dataset.”

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Wash. v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury (D.D.C.) -- following in camera review, deciding that government properly withheld all but one record pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege.

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

Court opinion issued Aug. 1, 2022

Deep Sea Fishermen's Union of the Pac. v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce (W.D. Wash.) -- granting agency’s motion for protective order and denying plaintiff’s request to depose agency declarant, because agency’s declaration already addressed topics raised by plaintiff and plaintiff failed to provide any evidence that declaration was made in bad faith.

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

Court opinion issued July 29, 2022

Blake v. NSA (D.D.C.) -- determining that National Security Agency properly invoked Exemption 3, in conjunction with National Security Act of 1959, in refusing to confirm or deny existence of intelligence records related to the disappearance and death of Nicholas Blake, a United States citizen, in Guatemala in 1985.

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

Court opinion issued July 28, 2022

Moore v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) plaintiff did not waive issue of the adequacy of CIA’s search for records concerning Korean War-era prisoner of war and CIA neglected to address plaintiff’s related arguments; (2) CIA properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 1, and, with limited exceptions, properly issued Glomar responses using same exemption; and (3) CIA properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 3 and 6, and it performed adequate segregability analysis.

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

Court opinion issued July 25, 2022

Judicial Watch v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- in case involving redactions to 4-page document concerning origin of agency’s investigation of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, finding that: (1) FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold names of non-senior executive FBI officials at the GS-14 and GS-15 levels; and (2) FBI properly withheld other information pursuant to Exemptions 1, 7(D), and 7(E).

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

Court opinion issued July 22, 2022

Hansten v. DEA (D.D.C.) -- rejecting DEA’s Exemption 7(E) Glomar response to request for DEA Forms 222 issued on particular day, because although agency “could use Form 222 in a diversion investigation, the entries on this form say nothing about how the DEA would “go about investigating” a diversion case."

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

Court opinion issued July 21, 2022

Lewis v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury (D. Md.) -- deciding that: (1) plaintiff was not entitled to money damages from Department of Veterans Affairs for disclosing records only after plaintiff filed her lawsuit; and (2) agency properly relied on Exemptions 6 and 7(C) to withhold certain records concerning plaintiff’s complaint about third party, but that it improperly withheld internal tracking numbers, information on the administrative processing and status of the complaint and investigation, and standard form instructions.”

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

Court opinion issued July 20, 2022

Judicial Watch v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI properly invoked Exemption 7(E) in refusing to confirm or deny existence of agency communications with financial institutions about the violent attack at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, rejecting plaintiff’s argument that FBI had official acknowledged existence of those records.

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

Court opinion issued July 19, 2022

Montgomery v. IRS (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that: (1) IRS properly relied on Exemption 7(D) in refusing to confirm or deny existence or records concerning involvement of whistleblower(s) in agency’s investigation of plaintiffs; and (2) IRS performed adequate search for agency communications with third parties about plaintiff’s taxes.

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

Court opinion issued July 15, 2022

Shapiro v. FBI (D.C. Cir. ) -- affirming, in most respects, district court’s decision that FBI performed adequate search for voluminous records related to the animal rights movement, but remanding case to fill in gap concerning certain electronic surveillance records.

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