Court opinions issued Apr. 6, 2020

Cause of Action Inst. v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- concluding that: (1) DOJ properly withheld certain questions to and responses of congressional witnesses as “non-responsive” even though all material appeared in a single document, but that agency could not treat sub-questions and responses thereto as distinct records; (2) plaintiff did not have standing to challenge legality of Office of Information Policy’s guidance on definition of a “record.”

Ctr. for Pub. Integrity v. U.S. Dep’t of Energy (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) agency properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold background papers associated with “Nuclear Posture Review;” (2) agency properly withheld names of contractors pursuant to Exemption 6, but domain email addresses were not similarly protected; (3) agency properly withheld information relating to security at nuclear facilities pursuant to Exemption 7(F); and (4) based on court’s in camera review, government did not previously disclose any information requested by plaintiff.

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

FOIA News: State Dep't stays clear of discovery dispute in Clinton FOIA case

State Department won't support Hillary Clinton effort to dodge deposition over email server and Benghazi

by Jerry Dunleavy, Wash Exam’r, Apr. 6, 2020

The State Department declined to join former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s effort to convince an appeals court to let her dodge a judge-ordered sworn deposition about her use of a private email server and the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack.

“The Court agrees with Judicial Watch — it is time to hear directly from Secretary Clinton," U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled in March while also ordering former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills to be deposed by the conservative watchdog.

Read more here.

FOIA News: See annual FOIA reports from 1975 to 2018

Marquette University has published a compilation of FOIA annual reports from 1975 through 2018. The Office of Information Policy’s website maintains annual reports from 1998 through 2019 here.

FOIA News: CPSC commissioners approve FOIA fee changes

On April 1, 2020, the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s board unanimously approved publishing a Federal Register notice that would amend the agency’s fee regulations.

FOIA News: FBI reactivates eFOIA portal

A note on the FBI’s FOIA website indicates that requests may be submitted through its eFOIA portal or by standard mail. On March 17, 2020, the FBI announced that it was suspending its eFOIA portal due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Court opinion issued Apr. 3, 2020

Lewis v. Dep’t of the Treasury (D.D.C.) -- finding that government properly withheld records concerning an Andorran bank pursuant to Exemptions 5 (DPP), 7(A), and 7(D).

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

FOIA News: ICYMI, CRS surveys agencies for COVID-19 impact

The Congress Research Service published a report last week that identified thirteen agencies whose FOIA processing had been affected by the pandemic.

FOIA News: OGIS encourages agencies to "keep lines of communication open" during pandemic

Because COVID-19 is likely to delay agency FOIA responses, the Office of Government Information Services has encouraged agencies to provide an estimated date of completion upon request. See full blog post here.

Court opinions issued April 1, 2020

Nat. Res. Def. Council v. EPA (2nd Cir.) -- reversing district court’s decision and ordering release of one component of EPA computer program after finding that it did not fall within Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege.

Argus Leader v. USDA (D.S.D.) -- denying plaintiff’s motion for new trial and ruling that plaintiff was ineligible for attorney’s fees following U.S. Supreme Court’s Exemption 4 decision involving same parties and same records.

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

Court opinions issued Mar. 31, 2020

Am. Oversight v. OMB (D.D.C.) -- concluding that OMB failed to perform adequate searches for agency’s communications with the White House concerning the FBI headquarters building and the Old Postal Office Pavilion, and that OMB properly withheld some, but not all, records pursuant to Exemption 5’s presidential communications privilege.

Webster v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI performed reasonable search for records concerning plaintiff Carl Oglesby, and the government properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 1, 3, 7(C), 7(D), and 7(E).

Mabie v. EOUSA (S.D. Ill.) -- dismissing plaintiff’s FOIA claims as sanction for using profane, belligerent, and abusive language when speaking to opposing counsel, leveling unfounded accusations and threatening opposing counsel, insulting the judge and Court employees, and impugning the integrity of judicial proceedings.

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