Court opinions issued Nov. 9, 2017

Hardy v. ATF (D.D.C.) -- awarding plaintiff $20,095.95 in attorney's fees and costs for substantially prevailing in case against DOJ's Office of Inspector General, but not against ATF, and reducing award for its limited success and for time spent on certain non-compensable tasks. 

Brick v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI's declarations were too sweeping and vague to permit review of agency's withholdings on 12 pages of records pursuant to Exemptions 3, 6, 7(C), and 7(E).

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: CEI Sues State Department for Paris Climate Accord Records

State Dept Is Withholding Paris Accord Documents, So A Think Tank Is Suing It

Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, Nov. 13, 2017

The libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is suing the Department of State for “illegally” withholding documents related to the Obama administration’s decision to keep the Paris climate accord away from Congress.

CEI filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October asking for emails between two Obama administration State Department officials and a lawyer for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which is chaired by Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker.

The State Department has not provided any records, so CEI filed suit on Monday.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued November 7, 2017

Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- granting government's renewed summary judgment motion regarding use of Exemptions 1 and 3 to withhold records about pen registers or trap and trace devices, except with respect to certain redactions that government failed to address.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: Judges Skeptical of FBI Arguments in Suit Over Reporter Impersonation

Judges Skeptical of FBI Arguments in Suit Over Reporter Impersonation

B Cogan Schneier, National Law Journal, Nov. 13, 2017

A federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., seemed skeptical of arguments by the government on Monday that the FBI has fully complied with an open records request about its practice of impersonating journalists in criminal investigations.

The Associated Press and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argue in a lawsuit filed in 2015 that in searching for records responsive to their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the FBI ignored certain locations where the records could have been found.

In oral arguments Monday, Judges Brett Kavanaugh, David Tatel and Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit repeatedly pressed Justice Department lawyer Joseph Busa about why the FBI did not explain in greater detail how it conducted the searches.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Project Democracy files FOIA lawsuit over DOJ's handling of AT&T-Time Warner Merger

Watchdog lawsuit seeks to determine if White House influenced Time Warner-AT&T merger

Victoria Ritter, Gears of Biz, Nov. 12, 2017

WASHINGTON – Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan watchdog group, is suing the U.S. Justice Department to determine whether there has been any inappropriate influence from President Trump or his White House advisers over the AT&T-Time Warner merger. 

The Justice Department failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request the group filed in July seeking confirmation of any contacts between the White House and the Justice Department regarding the proposed deal, which prompted the lawsuit filed on Thursday, the group told USA TODAY.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Nov. 6, 2017

Dubuque v. U.S. Dep't of the Air Force (E.D. Mo.) -- ruling that agency properly relied upon Exemption 7(E) to withhold records pertaining to plaintiff's polygraph examination. 

Brennan Ctr. for Justice v. Dep't of State (D.D.C.) -- deciding that agency properly relied on Exemption 1 to withhold records concerning the United States's unpublished international agreements.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: State Dep't employees resisting FOIA duties

Diplomats fear Tillerson transparency push is linked to Clinton emails

State Department officials worry that an effort to release thousands of records is aimed at tarnishing Hillary Clinton – and pushing more staffers to quit.

By Nahal Toosi, Politico, Nov. 7, 2017

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s assignment of as many as several hundred State Department officials to quickly clear a huge backlog of public records requests is being met with deep skepticism by rank-and-file employees.

Tillerson says his goal is transparency. But many State workers fear the real reason is political: expediting the public release of thousands of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s official emails. 

The staffers also suspect the move — which will reassign many of them from far more substantive duties and has already sparked a union complaint — is meant to force many of them to resign out of frustration with what are essentially clerical positions.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Nov. 2, 2017

Sandoval v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) plaintiff, a pro se prisoner, failed to administratively appeal the Federal Bureau of Prison's FOIA determination before filing lawsuit; (2) Executive Office for United States Attorneys failed to demonstrate that it had conducted a reasonable search for records concerning plaintiff; and (3) FBI conducted a reasonable search for records concerning plaintiff and properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemption 6, 7(C), 7(D), and 7(F). 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: Daily Dot FOIA'd Every Trump Cabinet Member’s Travel Records

We FOIA’d every Trump Cabinet member’s travel records—here’s what we got back

By Ellen Loanes, Daily Dot, Nov. 1, 2017

In the interest of transparency, the Daily Dot has requested the travel records for all military and private chartered travel request for all Cabinet secretaries through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A request for the travel records of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who travels on a government plane, is currently in the works.

Thus far, the Daily Dot has received records from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, as well as a statement from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) claiming that no records exist related to Secretary Ben Carson’s military or private charter air travel. The Daily Dot has requested information related to his commercial travel as well, but we have not yet received any response to that request. You can see the documents we have received below:

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Oct. 31, 2017

Bloomgarden v. DOJ (D.C. Cir.) -- ruling that agency properly relied on Exemption 6 to withhold proposed job termination letter issued to the Assistant United States Attorney who prosecuted plaintiff's criminal case, noting that the letter revealed "only alleged unprofessionalism of a sort in which any junior attorney might engage, not allegations of prosecutorial misconduct or other abuse of a federal prosecutor's powers." 

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.