Court opinion issued Dec. 15, 2023

Voice of San Diego v. NCIS (S.D. Cal.) -- determining that: (1) Navy performed adequate search for records concerning its investigations into suicides of certain service members; and (2) government’s explanations for privacy withholdings in the Vaughn Index were too “boilerplate and conclusory” to permit the court to conduct required balancing test; noting that government’s terse descriptions nonetheless suggested that “substantial privacy interests” were at stake, and that court harbored doubt that plaintiff could show an overriding public interest in disclosure.

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

Court opinions issued Dec. 7 & 13, 2023

Dec. 13, 2023

Ulis v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI properly refused to release the clip-on necktie of D.B. Cooper, because tangible objects are not reproducible and do not qualify as agency records.

Dec. 7, 2023

Nagdy v. DOJ (W.D. Ky.) -- dismissing plaintiff’s claim against FBI because he failed to administratively appeal from the agency’s response to his request for records concerning his state-court criminal case.

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

Court opinion issued Dec. 5, 2023

Chohan v. U.S. Dep't of State (D.D.C.) -- ruling that agency properly relied on Exemption 3, in conjunction with 8 U.S.C. § 1202(f) (Immigration & Nationality Act), to withhold records pertaining to agency’s denial of plaintiff’s visa applications.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 29, 2023

Roland v. DOJ (7th Cir.) -- affirming district court’s ruling that: (1) before filing suit, plaintiff failed to administratively appeal DOJ’s determinations that neither the FBI nor National Security Division had records of spying on plaintiff through his television set, and that any existing records would be classified, in any event; (2) plaintiff’s claim about the existence of responsive records was “implausible,” dismissing plaintiff’s reliance on certain video recordings of television broadcasts as unrealistic.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 28, 2023

Huddleston v. FBI (E.D. Tex.) -- concluding that: (1) the FBI failed to justify its reliance on Exemption 7(D) and 7(E) to withhold information from the images of Seth Rich’s personal laptop; (2) FBI failed to show that records concerning Seth Rich’s work laptop were not “agency records,” rejecting the use of the four-factor Burka test and adopting the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Rojas v. FAA; and (3) FBI properly withheld newly found records concerning the work laptop pursuant to Exemption 7(A), citing a criminal prosecution and governmental action against various Russian nationals who have been indicted by a grand jury in the District of Columbia.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 27, 2023

Judicial Watch v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI performed an adequate search for records of communications between FBI officials and the New York Times regarding search warrants executed in 2021 against certain Project Veritas employees; rejecting plaintiff’s challenges to the search terms employed and the locations searched, as well as plaintiff’s “pure speculation” that the FBI was the source of the newspaper’s reporting.

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 15, 2023

Kilmer v. U.S. Customs & Border Prot. (D.D.C.) -- on renewed summary judgment, ruling that: (1) CBP adequately addressed the court’s earlier concerns regarding the agency’s search for certain communications about the ‘Women’s March” in 2017; and (2) CBP properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 5 (deliberative process privilege), 6, 7(C), and 7(E). In reaching its decision, the court rejected plaintiff’s argument that because CBP had certain enforcement powers, the agency’s search and withholdings should be reviewed under a “strict scrutiny” standard.

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

Court opinions issued Nov. 6, 2023

Contreras & Metelska v. ICE (D. Minn.) -- ruling that agency properly relied on Exemptions 3, 5, 6, and 7(C) to redact emails of ICE’s local chief counsel regarding his “no contact” policy with plaintiffs; rejecting plaintiff’s claims that agency’s alleged discriminatory conduct or its release of previously withheld records constituted bad faith warranting additional review of disputed documents.

NY Times v. DOJ (S.D.N.Y.) -- granting government’s motion for reconsideration in case involving records of FBI’s “use of spyware and other digital surveillance products from the Israeli technology company”; finding that government’s supplemental declaration regarding Exemptions 1, 3, and 7(E) was sufficient to sustain withholdings. but cautioning that “this ruling should in no way be construed as approving the Government's failure to effectively support its litigation positions in its summary judgment briefing.”

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

Court opinion issued Nov. 1, 2023

Guarascio v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- in case concerning records of plaintiff’s conviction for manufacturing child pornography, concluding that: (1) although FBI processed and released requested records, FBI failed to show that plaintiff lacked standing to challenge his FOIA/Privacy Act waiver; (2) FBI’s search was inadequate “because it did not aver that it searched all files that are likely to contain responsive materials”; (3) plaintiff was not entitled to a waiver due to indigency or any alleged improprieties in his criminal case, and he failed to show that public interest would be served by disclosure; and (4) FBI properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 3, 6, and 7(C), but it did not establish that Exemption 7(D) protected all investigatory records received from a state law enforcement agency.

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

FOIA News: Reminder of Chief FOIA Officers Council meeting

The Chief FOIA Officers Council will meet on Thursday, November 9, 2023, from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM. To present oral comments during the meeting, the public must register by Tuesday at 11:59 PM. The meeting will also be livestreamed. See more details here.