FOIA Advisor

Court opinions issued Feb. 1, 2018

Court Opinions (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

Am. Civil Liberties Union of N. Cal. v. FBI (9th Cir.) -- vacating district court's decision and holding that "when a FOIA request seeks guidelines and other generalized documents compiled by a law enforcement agency not related to a particular investigation, the government need not link the document to the enforcement of a particular statute in order to claim the protection of Exemption 7. Rather, the agency need only establish a rational nexus between the withheld document and its authorized law enforcement activities."

Jaber v. DOD (D.D.C.) -- ruling that: (1) multiple agencies properly refused to confirm or deny -- pursuant to Exemption 1 and Exemption 3 -- existence of records "that would tend to confirm in one way or another" role of government in drone strike in Yemen in 2012, and (2) agencies performed adequate searches for other requested records related to drone strike.   

Grynberg v. DOJ (S.D.N.Y.) -- concluding that DOJ properly withheld certain records pertaining to prosecution of James Giffen pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with Rule 6(e) of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure and mutual assistance agreement with Switzerland.

Shapiro v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- determining that FBI performed adequate search for records concerning "Operation Mosaic," and that it properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 5, 6, and 7(C).

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.