Court opinions issued Feb. 5, 2016

Conservation Force v. Jewell (D.D.C.) -- ruling that plaintiff was ineligible for attorneys' fees because it did not obtain court-ordered relief on the merits of its FOIA claims or receive relief from the agency that it would not have obtained but for the lawsuit.  In reaching its decision, the court held that ordering an agency to prepare a Vaughn Index does not constitute judicial relief.    

Bloomgarden v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- determining that the Executive Office for United States Attorneys properly relied on Exemption 6 (but not Exemption 7(C)) to withhold disciplinary records concerning the Assistant United States Attorney who had been removed from plaintiff's criminal case in 1995.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinions issued Feb. 3 & Feb. 4, 2016

Feb. 4, 2016

Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. Dep't of Justice (D.D.C.) -- finding that the government's declarations were too broad in scope for court to make a determination about the information withheld from records concerning a now-expired national security program. 

Feb. 3, 2016

San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Auth. v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior (E.D. Cal.) -- rejecting plaintiff's argument that the government had waived its ability to withhold any requested records pertaining to the subject matter of a final agency opinion that had been released in full.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Q&A: receipt of federal funds and FOIA

Q.  Is a HUD-subsidized community required to follow FOIA guidelines?

A.  Municipal entities are not subject to the federal FOIA; the receipt of federal funds is irrelevant.  See, e.g., Hammerlord v. City of San Diego, No. 11-1564, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157740, at *16 (S.D. Cal. Nov. 2, 2012) (finding that housing commission not subject to FOIA notwithstanding receipt of federal funds).

FOIA News: Citizens United looks for coordination between Dems, feds on Clinton probe

Citizens United looks for coordination between Dems, feds on Clinton probe

By Julian Hattem, The Hill, Feb. 4, 2016

The conservative political organization Citizens United on Thursday demanded the federal government hand over any documents showing that State Department officials discussed the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private email server with Democrats.

The organization filed a pair of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests asking the State Department to give up any records showing that officials referenced the ongoing investigation or the department’s internal watchdog with top congressional Democrats or Clinton’s presidential campaign. 

“Citizens United wants to know if congressional Democrats are acting as defense attorneys for Hillary Clinton by seeking to politicize and undermine the State Department Inspector General’s investigation,” group President David Bossie said in a statement to The Hill. “Similarly, we want to know if Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is inappropriately communicating with Democrat political appointees at the State Department about the status of the State Department Inspector General’s investigation.”

Read more here.

FOIA News: Why won't the CIA reveal what's in its art collection?

Why won't the CIA reveal what's in its art collection?

By Matthew Ponsford, CNN, Feb. 5, 2016

The CIA's fortress headquarters in Langley, Virginia is home to more than few surprises, like a branch of Starbucks where the baristas definitely don't ask names, and a museum of spying you'll never set foot in.

And those are just the details they're authorized to talk about.

Langley is the nerve center of an espionage empire with a budget in the billions. Its classified headcount of intelligence operatives are tasked with, among other things, sabotaging ISIS and waging cyber warfare -- so it is understandable that the agency is a little tight-lipped.

But few know that the HQ's halls play host to one of the world's most enigmatic art galleries.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Feb. 2, 2016

Judicial Watch v. U.S. Dep't of Def. (D.D.C.) -- ruling that the agency properly relied on the deliberative process privilege to redact a memorandum relating to transfer five Guantanamo Bay detainees to the state of Qatar in exchange for the return of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.  In reaching its decision, the court rejected plaintiff's argument that the agency had adopted, incorporated, or relied upon the memorandum so as to lose the protection of the privilege.  

Polk v. Fed. Bureau of Investigation (N.D. Cal.) -- denying plaintiff's motion under Rule 60(b) of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for relief from decision granting summary judgment to agency.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Q&A: airplanes flying amok

Q.  I would like to inquire about the cost of the white/blue trim small aircraft that fly all day in my neighborhood.  I do not live near a major airport.  The planes are loud and plentiful (every 2 minutes), and some of them have STATE printed in blue while others have numbers (for example N525ER and various others).  Are these government planes? I would like to know the cost to the taxpayer as well as the purpose of the aircraft if, in fact, these are government planes. 

A.  You can find airline registration information on the Federal Aviation Administration's website.  If you would like to make a FOIA request to the FAA, follow these agency instructions.   

Court opinion issued Feb. 1, 2016

Kalu v. Internal Revenue Serv. (D.D.C.) -- holding that the FBI properly relied upon Exemption 7(E) in refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records indicating whether plaintiff was on an agency "watch list."  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: Emails: Hillary Clinton aides sought non-State PC for private account

Emails: Hillary Clinton aides sought non-State PC for private account

CBS News, Feb. 1, 2016

Emails released to conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch suggest that while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, the State Department planned to accommodate her private email server by setting up a separate computer network in an office "across [the] hall." The arrangement was made after Clinton's chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, asked about accessing web email "using a non-DOS [Department of State] computer."

Judicial Watch obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit requesting information about Clinton's private email server.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DOJ Lies To 'FOIA Terrorist' Jason Leopold; Claim They Have No Documents On Aaron Swartz

DOJ Lies To 'FOIA Terrorist' Jason Leopold; Claim They Have No Documents On Aaron Swartz

By Mike Masnick, techdirt, Feb. 1, 2016

Back in 2013, not long after Aaron Swartz's tragic suicide, reporter Kevin Poulsen (who had also worked with Swartz on what became SecureDrop, the system for whistleblowers to anonymously submit documents to journalists) submitted a Freedom of Information Act with the Department of Homeland Security about what info it had on Swartz. There were some legal fights about it, but eventually DHS was forced to release the documents, which now reside at a site set up by Poulsen called SwartzFiles.com. These documents revealed things like the government's weird infatuation with the Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto, that many believe was written (at least in part) by Swartz (there's at least some dispute over this). 

Meanwhile, Jason Leopold, who uses FOIA requests so frequently and so effectively that the DOJ once labeled him a "FOIA Terrorist," submitted a similar request with the Justice Department -- specifically targeting the US Attorney's Office in Massachusetts -- which is the office out of which Swartz's case was prosecuted. Obviously, they have plenty of such documents. In fact, in Poulsen's DHS Swartz files there are emails between DHS and DOJ folks. But, an astounding three years and 11 days after Leopold submitted his FOIA request, the DOJ has told him it has no responsive documents.

Read more here.