Blake v. NSA (D.D.C.) -- determining that National Security Agency properly invoked Exemption 3, in conjunction with National Security Act of 1959, in refusing to confirm or deny existence of intelligence records related to the disappearance and death of Nicholas Blake, a United States citizen, in Guatemala in 1985.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Moore v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) plaintiff did not waive issue of the adequacy of CIA’s search for records concerning Korean War-era prisoner of war and CIA neglected to address plaintiff’s related arguments; (2) CIA properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 1, and, with limited exceptions, properly issued Glomar responses using same exemption; and (3) CIA properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 3 and 6, and it performed adequate segregability analysis.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
FOIA Work Increases but Still Below Peak
FEDweek, July 27, 2022
Federal agencies both received and processed more Freedom of Information Act requests in fiscal 2021 than they did the prior year but both remained below their peak levels of 2019, according to a Justice Department report.
Agencies received just above 838,000 requests and processed about 500 more than that number, although the number deemed to be backlogged—that is, processed after the 20-day standard for regular requests and the 30-day standard if there are “unusual circumstances”—rose from about 141,800 to about 153,200. Average processing time for standard requests increased by almost 3 days to just under 33, while the average for processing expedited requests fell by about a half-day to just above 13 ½.
Read more here.
Judicial Watch v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- in case involving redactions to 4-page document concerning origin of agency’s investigation of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, finding that: (1) FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(C) to withhold names of non-senior executive FBI officials at the GS-14 and GS-15 levels; and (2) FBI properly withheld other information pursuant to Exemptions 1, 7(D), and 7(E).
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Hansten v. DEA (D.D.C.) -- rejecting DEA’s Exemption 7(E) Glomar response to request for DEA Forms 222 issued on particular day, because although agency “could use Form 222 in a diversion investigation, the entries on this form say nothing about how the DEA would “go about investigating” a diversion case."
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Lewis v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury (D. Md.) -- deciding that: (1) plaintiff was not entitled to money damages from Department of Veterans Affairs for disclosing records only after plaintiff filed her lawsuit; and (2) agency properly relied on Exemptions 6 and 7(C) to withhold certain records concerning plaintiff’s complaint about third party, but that it improperly withheld internal tracking numbers, information on the administrative processing and status of the complaint and investigation, and standard form instructions.”
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Judicial Watch v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI properly invoked Exemption 7(E) in refusing to confirm or deny existence of agency communications with financial institutions about the violent attack at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, rejecting plaintiff’s argument that FBI had official acknowledged existence of those records.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Montgomery v. IRS (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court’s decision that: (1) IRS properly relied on Exemption 7(D) in refusing to confirm or deny existence or records concerning involvement of whistleblower(s) in agency’s investigation of plaintiffs; and (2) IRS performed adequate search for agency communications with third parties about plaintiff’s taxes.
Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.
Microsoft Says IRS Can't Skip FOIA Suit Over 15-Year Audit
A Washington federal court should reject the IRS' bid to escape without trial from Microsoft Corp.'s public records suit seeking documents on its 15-year audit, the company argued, saying the agency withheld tens of thousands of files with little justification.
Read more here (subscription).
The FOIA backlog continued to grow last year
By Justin Doubleday, Fed. News Network, July 22, 2022
The federal Freedom of Information Act request backlog continued to rise in fiscal 2021, but FOIA offices were able to make a dent in the backlog of administrative appeals last year.
The Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy (OIP) runs down the numbers in its analysis of agency chief FOIA officer fiscal 2021 reports.
Agencies received 838,164 FOIA requests in fiscal 2021, a 6% increase above the total received in fiscal 2020. And the FOIA backlog increased by just over 8% to a total of 153,227 requests by the end of fiscal 2021.
A request is considered backlogged when it has been pending at an agency longer than the statutory time to respond, which is typically 20 working days, but can be up to 30 working days in unusual circumstances.
DOJ’s 49,959 delayed requests made up 33% of the backlog alone. The Department of Homeland Security, which typically receives the most FOIA requests of any agency and was able to make a dent in its backlog last year, accounted for 16% of the backlog at the end of fiscal 2021, while the Defense Department represented 11% of the backlog.
Read more here.