Court opinions issued July 7, 2022

Hall v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- in case litigated for 18 years, deciding “final issue” that agency performed adequate search of its operational files for records concerning Vietnam War prisoners of war.

Hughes v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys conducted adequate search for records concerning plaintiff, (2) EOUSA improperly treated records related to two defendants in plaintiff’s criminal case as non-responsive, and agency needed to clarify whether it possessed a sealed court filing that it treated as non-responsive; (3) EOUSA properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 5’s attorney work-product privilege; (4) EOUSA and FBI properly relied on Exemptions 6 and 7(C) to withhold records concerning various third parties, but ordering each agency to release records concerning plaintiff’s codefendants; and (5) plaintiff was eligible and entitled to recover his litigation costs of $350.

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

FOIA News: OIP seeks experienced FOIA attorney

The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy is hiring an experienced attorney to handle FOIA lawsuits filed against DOJ. The application deadline is August 8, 2022. See more details here.

FOIA News: If you give a hoot . . .

A panel discussion on using FOIA to help animals will be held on July 13, 2022. See details here.

FOIA News: Discussion of estimated completion dates

Five ways to improve FOIA estimated completion dates

By Abigail Russ, Fed. News Network, July 5, 2022

As backlogs for Freedom of Information Act requests grew during the pandemic, some agencies found success limiting processing times. Now, those agencies are offering best practices to improve the public information request process and make it easier for records custodians to calculate estimated dates of completion (EDCs). 

FOIA, which celebrated its 56th anniversary on July 4, mandates agencies provide EDCs on all public information requests, although many agencies do not provide them, Alina Semo, director of the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), said.

The agency’s annual meeting on June 29 comes after OGIS issued their annual Report for Fiscal Year 2021. OGIS is the congressionally mandated agency in charge of reviewing FOIA policies, procedures, compliance and improvement.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued June 30 & July 1, 2022

July 1, 2022

Conn. Fair Housing. Ctr. v. HUD (D. Conn.) -- ruling that plaintiff was ineligible for costs and attorney’s fees because court played no role in settlement reached between the parties.

June 30, 2022

Am. Civil Liberties Union of Me. Found. v. ICE (D. Me.) (magistrate’s recommendation) -- following in camera review of records concerning asylum applications, finding that ICE properly withheld some but not all records pursuant to Exemption 7(E).

Rutila v. DOT (N.D. Tex.) -- on remand from Fifth Circuit, finding that: (1) FAA properly tolled its response to one of plaintiff’s requests concerning air traffic controller training and therefore plaintiff’s failure to pay estimated fees precluded his claim; (2) FAA performed reasonable search for certain emails; (3) five of plaintiff’s requests concerning agency employee were either not reasonably described or improperly required creation of new records; and (4) agency conducted adequate search for air traffic training manual.

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

FOIA News: Happy FOIA Anniversary

CELEBRATING THE 56TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOIA

By DOJ/OIP. FOIA Post, June 30, 2022

This Fourth of July marks the fifty-sixth anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Amending the disclosure section of the Administrative Procedure Act, the FOIA transformed what had widely been considered a withholding statute to a disclosure statute that would provide the greatest possible access to federal agency records. 

The significance of this new law was emphasized at the very beginning with Attorney General Clark’s June 1967 memorandum on the implementation of the FOIA.  Issued to executive departments and agencies one month before the law took effect, the Attorney General declared:  “If the government is to be truly of, by, and for the people, the people must know in detail the activities of government.  Nothing so diminishes democracy as secrecy.  Self-government, the maximum participation of the citizenry in affairs of state, is meaningful only with an informed public.”

Read more here.

FOIA News: CIA to amend FOIA regulations

The Central Intelligence Agency intends to revise its Freedom of Information Act regulations, according to a draft notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on July 1, 2022. Public comments will be accepted for 60 days.

FOIA News: Deadline extended for FOIA Advisory Committee nominations

Office of Gov’t Info. Serv., The FOIA Ombudsman, June 29, 2022

The deadline for nominating yourself or someone else to the 2022-2024 term of the FOIA Advisory Committee has been extended until Friday, July 15, 2022. We are looking for a wide range of FOIA experts from both inside and outside the government who have a passion for FOIA and a commitment to improving the FOIA process.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued June 27, 2022

N.Y. Times v. DOJ (S.D.N.Y) -- following in camera review of a report concerning Volkswagen AG’s compliance with plea agreement, ordering limited disclosure of information that DOJ had withheld under Exemption 4 and Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege.

Buzzfeed, Inc. v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- in case involving illegal alien data in the department’s Enforcement Integrated Database, ordering CBP to address whether database contains unique identifiers other than A-numbers and concluding that CBP properly relied on Exemption 7(E) to withhold some, but not all, disputed database information.

Pfeiffer v. Dep’t of Energy (D.D.C.) -- ruling that plaintiff, a PhD anthropology candidate, had sufficiently demonstrated that his request fell within fee category of an educational institution, rejecting agency’s argument that plaintiff’s potential profit transformed request to commercial use.

Kowall v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- denying plaintiff’s Rule 59(e) motion to amend two aspects of court’s summary judgment ruling, namely that ATF performed adequate search for records concerning client’s post-conviction proceedings and that FBI properly withheld plea agreement of client’s co-defendant.

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

FOIA News: Don't hold your breath for Navy records on UFOs

U.S. Navy Reading Room notice re: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena