Property of the People v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- rejecting FBI’s claim that two files pertaining to Donald Trump are categorically exempt under Exemptions 7(D) and 7(E) solely because they are within an informant file.
Lopez-Pena v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- granting government’s summary judgment motion because plaintiff conceded that his lawsuit originated from a FOIA request that he incorrectly mailed to the wrong federal agency.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Advancement Proj. v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- concluding that: (1) with limited exceptions, ICE properly relied on Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold records concerning visa sanctions, including briefing materials and communications about press strategy; and (2) ICE properly withheld two categories of records under Exemption 7(E), but it did not adequately spell out how disclosure of another category of records would reveal a law enforcement technique, procedure, or guideline.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Gov't Defends Holding Info About Trump Name On Virus Checks
By Emlyn Cameron, Law360, July 19, 2021
The Treasury Department properly withheld information from ABC News after the organization asked for records on the decision to print former President Donald Trump's name on coronavirus relief payments sent by mail, the government said in a filing.
Read more here (subscription).
FBI’s ‘Vault’ a repository of records on Capone to Einstein
By Joe Dwinnell, Boston Herald, July 19, 2021
“The Vault,” the FBI’s public records repository, is a who’s who of the famous to the infamous the agency has kept records on.
Once a person dies, their FBI files are accessible under the federal Freedom of Information Act — minus any agency redactions. The Herald did just that after Southie mobster James “Whitey” Bulger was killed in October 2018 inside a West Virginia prison.
The first batch of records was just posted to The Vault with the next installments expected soon. The FBI, however, keeps populating the page with new entries weekly from other FOIA requests.
Read more here.
Wash. Post v. SBA (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) SBA failed to show that interim loan status information was properly withheld under Exemption 4, in no small part because the agency declined to submit declarations from any loan recipients; and (2) SBA properly relied on Exemption 4 to withhold DUNS numbers associated with individual borrowers.
Open Soc’y Justice Initiative v. DOD (S.D.N.Y.) -- ruling that the CIA properly relied on Exemptions 1 and 3 in refusing to confirm or deny existence of records concerning five pandemic-related topics, but that it did not meet its burden of proof with respect to sixteen other pandemic-related topics.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released an audit report on July 8, 2021, that reviewed the IRS’s compliance with FOIA in fiscal year 2020. A statistical sample of 73 cases involving Exemption 7 withholdings revealed a 16 percent error rate. Read the full audit report here.
Reporters Comm. for Freedom Press v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(E) to withhold various records concerning agency’s practice of impersonating journalists and documentary filmmakers, and noting that the foreseeable harm standard was inapplicable to that exemption; and (2) FBI failed to sufficiently explain how investigatory records concerning Cliven Bundy were protected by Exemption 7(A).
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Scott v. IRS (S.D. Fla.) -- concluding that plaintiff was eligible but not entitled to litigation costs because he failed to make a clear showing of substantial public benefit and was motivated by a commercial or financial interest.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Gov’t Accountability Proj. v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- concluding that the CIA properly relied on Exemption 1 in refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records concerning the provision of nuclear technologies to countries in the Middle East, but reserving judgment with respect to unsolicited communications received by the agency.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Judge 'Struggling' With Fight Over Gina Haspel's CIA Docs
Law360, July 9, 2021
A D. C. federal judge said Thursday he's "struggling" to decide whether the CIA must cough up more documents in a lawsuit accusing the agency of conducting a propaganda campaign in 2018 to promote Gina Haspel, former President Donald Trump's pick to lead the agency, and whitewashing her alleged involvement in torture and abuse during the Bush administration. At the end of an hourlong hearing in the CIA's summary judgment motion to end the American Civil Liberties Union's Freedom of Information Act complaint, U. S. Judge Carl J. Nichols said he'll decide soon whether to order the agency to hand over undisclosed records. . .
Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription)
See case filings here.