FOIA News: State Dep't ends "FOIA Surge," reports TPM

State Dept. Quietly Ends Controversial ‘FOIA Surge,’ But Questions Remain

By Alice Ollstein, TPM, May 29, 2018

The State Department has quietly ended the controversial “FOIA surge” launched last October under the since-fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Capitol Hill and State Department sources tell TPM.

The effort involved pulling hundreds of people from offices across the agency — including former ambassadors, former high-level leaders of bureaus and former National Security Council staff — and reassigning them largely clerical work processing Freedom of Information Act requests.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued May 25, 2018

A Better Way for BPA v. U.S. Dep't of Energy (9th Cir.) -- reversing district court's decision that plaintiff did not have standing to file lawsuit because of "the submitted form’s unambiguous reference to A Better Way, confirming correspondence, and common sense." 

Physicians Comm. for Responsible Med. v. USDA (D.D.C.) -- concluding that requested records possessed by National Cattle Beef Association were not created, obtained, or controlled by agency and, thus, were not "agency records." 

Animal Legal Def. Fund v. USDA (N.D. Cal.) -- holding that expedited FOIA processing standard for "imminent threat to life or safety of an individual" excludes threats to animals -- in this case, a Siberian-Bengal tiger named "Tony."

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinions issued May 24, 2018

Grand Canyon Tr. v. Zinke (D.D.C.) -- denying plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees and costs in case involving the Federal Coal Program after finding that Office of Secretary and BLM "had begun processing the plaintiff’s request well before this lawsuit was initiated and that both agencies had even made partial releases to the plaintiff before the complaint was filed."

Sai v. TSA (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) agency failed to prove that it could not have “readily” produced responsive records or legible copies of six pages; (2) agency failed to search four offices that were likely to maintain responsive records; (3) agency failed to show that it properly invoked Exemption 3 with respect to information that another requester received; (4) agency failed to demonstrate that certain information concerning agency employees was properly withheld under Exemption 6.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

Court opinion issued May 23, 2018

Pinson v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- granting summary judgment to Federal Bureau of Prisons on eight of ten requests; finding that BOP failed to justify use of Exemption 6 on four documents and Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) on one document. 

Pinson v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- denying government's unopposed renewed summary motion because Executive Office for United States Attorneys Office failed to show that it performed reasonable search in response to plaintiff's two requests for case files.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: Court orders Special Counsel's media contacts to be released by September

MUELLER'S MEDIA CONTACTS TO BE PUBLIC BY SEPTEMBER

Judge orders release of thousands of documents in Freedom of Information case

By Bob Unrah, WND, May 24, 2018 

Thousands of government documents that should reveal the details of special counsel Robert Mueller’s contacts with the media – even though that may seem unusual since he’s running a secret investigation – now are scheduled to become public by early September.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan Thursday gave the government until Sept. 4 to provide thousand of documents that already have been identified under a Freedom of Information Act case.

Read more here

Court opinions issued May 22, 2018

Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI conducted adequate search for records concerning Russian interference in 2016 presidential election, and that it properly withheld non-segregable records under Exemptions 1, 3, and 7(A).

Hall & Assoc. v. EPA (D.D.C.) -- concluding that with few exceptions, EPA properly relied on Exemption 5 to withhold records concerning agency's non-acquiescence to 2013 Eighth Circuit decision about water treatment regulation; further, denying plaintiff's motion to strike, motion for discovery, and request for sanctions after finding that EPA did not act in bad faith before or during litigation.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here. 

FOIA News: DOJ regrets redaction errors on Trump docs

DOJ Apologizes for 'Oversight' on Trump Hotel Records Fight

That “oversight” came after the government attempted to withhold the names and email addresses of various members on President Donald Trump's transition team that were already available online.

By Ellis Kim, Nat'l Law J., May 23, 2018 at 05:31 PM

Justice Department lawyers made a rare apology to a federal judge Wednesday for an “inadvertent oversight” that occurred in a freedom of information lawsuit involving President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel.

That “oversight” came after the government attempted to withhold the names and email addresses of various Trump transition team members in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act battle against ethics watchdog group American Oversight. Several of those names were already publicly listed on Trump’s website, greatagain.gov.

Read more here. 

FOIA News: FBI orders Strzok, Page to preserve records on personal devices and accounts

FBI to Have Strzok and Page Preserve Records on Personal Devices as Part of FOIA Lawsuit

Ronn Blitzer, Law & Crime, May 23, 2018

Watchdog group Judicial Watch is in the middle of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice, where they’re seeking records of communications of FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Strzok and Page, who reportedly were having an extramarital affair, are known to have exchanged text messages including derogatory messages about Donald Trump, which led to Special Counsel Robert Mueller dismissing Strzok from the Russia investigation. The FBI now says that they will order the two to preserve agency records on their personal devices and accounts, in response to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit.

Earlier this week, Judge Reggie Walton ordered the FBI to turn over 500 pages of responsive documents by June 29. According to Judicial Watch, there are more than 13,000 pages of unreleased emails between Strzok and Page sent between February 1, 2015 and December 2017. Each month, the FBI will have to turn over an additional 500 pages, with both sides of the case providing quarterly status reports.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Law firm analyzes "Johnson v. CIA" decision

Judge Supports CIA on Selective Disclosure of Classified Information to Journalists

By Jay Ward Brown, Christopher M. Proczko & David A. Schulz, Nat'l Law J., May 23, 2018

Recently, in Johnson v. CIA, Chief Judge Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sided with the CIA when she held that the agency was not required to produce classified information in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request despite having earlier emailed that information to three journalists. This ruling could have the dual effect of strengthening the CIA's ability to rely on existing FOIA exemptions and encouraging the agency to share more information with the press.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued May 21, 2018

Roble v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- holding that Executive Office for United States Attorneys properly relied on Exemption 3 to withhold grand jury minutes pertaining to plaintiff's  criminal indictment.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.