Court opinion issued Sept. 14, 2020

Nat'l Day Laborer Org. Network v. ICE (S.D.N.Y.) -- finding that: (1) with the exception of one record, ICE improperly relied on attorney-client and attorney work-product privileges to withhold records concerning DHS’s “Priority Enforcement Program”; (2) ICE did not justify its withholding of memoranda under deliberative process privilege and DHS neglected to explain how disclosure of deliberative memoranda would reasonably cause harm; (3) government properly withheld some but not all records categorized as talking points, emails, and draft documents.

Houser v. HHS (D D.C.) -- ruling that HHS performed reasonable search for records pertaining to plaintiff'-prisoner’s former nursing homes and that agency properly withheld third-party records pursuant to Exemption 6.

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

Court opinion issued Sept. 13, 2020

Knight First Amendment Inst. at Columbia Univ. v. DHS (S.D.N.Y. ) — denying government’s request for reconsideration of court’s September 13, 2019 determination that ICE’s search was inadequate, and clarifying that its September 23, 2019 decision required government to disclose certain records to plaintiff promptly.

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

FOIA News: Federal Reserve revises FOIA regs

Following a public comment period last year, the Board of the Governors of the Federal Reserve System has issued a final rule updating its FOIA regulations, as well as the Board’s rules governing the disclosure of confidential supervisory information.

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.