Court opinions issued Sept. 11, 2020

Campaign for Accountability v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- rejecting plaintiff’s allegation that all legal opinions of Office of Legal Counsel must be affirmatively disclosed under FOIA’s “reading-room” provision, but concluding that OLC opinions “that resolve disputes between agencies” plausibly qualify for disclosure.

Rossmann v. SSA (D.D.C.) -- finding that plaintiff failed to administratively appeal agency’s response to his FOIA/PA request for records concerning Supplemental Security Income benefits.

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

FOIA News: CRS creates FOIA infographic

The Congressional Research Service has issued a Freedom of Information Act infographic. Click this link to see it.

Court opinion issued Sept. 10, 2020

Watson v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) plaintiff failed to administratively appeal response of Executive Office of United States Attorneys regarding his request for records about himself; and (2) FBI conducted adequate search for records about plaintiff and properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemptions 7(C), 7(D), 7(E), and 7(F).

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

Court opinion issued Sept. 9, 2020

Schoenberg v. FBI (9th Cir.) (unpublished) -- summarily affirming district court’s decision that FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold name of Special Agent who signed search warrant pertaining to laptop computer of former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

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

Court opinions issued Sept. 8, 2020

Perez v. ICE (S.D.N.Y) -- adopting in full magistrate judge’s report and recommendation that: (1) plaintiff was bound by agreement with government that was “so-ordered” by magistrate to narrow scope of litigation; (2) agency properly relied on Exemption 6 to withhold in full two witness statements regarding investigation into plaintiff’s allegations of unethical misconduct and mismanagement by agency employee; and (3) agency properly found that eight categories of collected records were not responsive to plaintiff’s request.

Ramcharan v. DEA (D.D.C.) -- granting government’s unopposed summary judgment motion concerning plaintiff’s request for records associated with his criminal trial, noting that plaintiff had conceded sufficiency of DEA’s search and that DEA had sufficiently explained its withholdings under Exemptions 5, 6, 7(C), (7)(D), 7(E), and 7(F).

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

FOIA News: Mueller-related FBI interviews properly withheld

Judge won't force disclosure of key parts of Mueller interviews

Court upholds Justice Department's claims that FBI reports are legally privileged

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Sept. 3, 2020

A federal judge has approved the Justice Department’s decision to deny the public access to large swaths of the thousands of pages of FBI reports on witness interviews from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged ties between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled Thursday that officials had the right to white out the information from public releases because the exchanges with witnesses reflected the thought processes of Mueller’s prosecutors and of FBI personnel working at their direction.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Sept. 3, 2020

Leopold v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- deciding that FBI properly relied on Exemption 5’s attorney work-product and presidential communications privileges to withhold interviews reports related to Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in U.S. presidential election.

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

Court opinions issued Sept. 2, 2020

Am. Immigration Lawyers Ass'n v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- following multiple rounds of summary judgment briefing, finding that, with minor exceptions, U.S. Customs & Border Protection properly relied on Exemption 7(E) to withhold records concerning reference manuals used for inspection and admission process into the United States.

Jurdi v. U.S. (D.D.C.) -- ruling that:DEA properly relied on Exemptions 7(C) and 7(D) to categorically withhold records about third party who testified at plaintiff’s criminal trial, and that FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(C) in refusing to confirm or deny existence of similar records.

NAACP Legal Def. & Educ. Fund v. DOJ (S.D.N.Y) -- concluding that Office of Community Oriented Policing Service properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold draft assessment of North Charleston, South Carolina Police Department.

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

FOIA News: Anne Weismann steps down from CREW

Anne Weismann, FOIA ‘Guru,’ Exits Watchdog Group

Weismann is no longer the chief FOIA counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, but will continue to serve as outside counsel in some of the group’s litigation.

By Jacqueline Thomsen, Nat’l Law Journal,  September 02, 2020

Anne Weismann, the chief FOIA counsel for the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, has stepped down from her full-time role at the organization.

In recent weeks, Weismann has filed motions withdrawing from several federal public records lawsuits filed by the organization. She was listed on a brief filed in a CREW case Wednesday, but without her affiliation with the group and using a personal email address. She is no longer listed on the organization’s staff page.

CREW spokesperson Jordan Libowitz confirmed Wednesday that Weismann is no longer with the group full-time, but is working as an outside counsel on certain cases. Weismann declined to comment further.

Read more here (accessible with free subscription).

Court opinions issued August 30-31, 2020

Aug. 31, 2020

In re: Clinton (D.C. Cir.) -- reissuing opinion of August 14, 2020 with nonsubstantive revisions.

Aug. 30, 2020

Stanco v. IRS. (E.D. Cal.) -- dismissing suit because plaintiffs failed to administratively appeal from agency’s adverse determination, but granting plaintiffs leave to amend their Complaint to include allegations that they timely appealed agency’s response to a subsequent, duplicate request.

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