FOIA Advisor

Court opinions issued Mar. 25, 2022

Court Opinions (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

Sanders v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- ruling that FBI properly relied on Exemption 7(E) in refusing to confirm or deny existence of records concerning an initiative of the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency to tackle child sexual exploitation.

Brown v. FBI (D. Or. 2022) -- finding that FBI properly relied on Exemptions 6 and 7(C) in refusing to confirm or deny existence of records concerning witness to 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack and declining to credit plaintiff’s allegation that shooting was episode of government-sponsored terrorism.

Cayuga Nation v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior (D.D.C.) -- concluding that Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to perform reasonable search for records concerning agency’s 2020 visit to plaintiff’s reservation; (2) BIA failed to justify withholding certain redacted portions of a “trip report” pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process, attorney work-product, or attorney-client privileges; and (3) with limited exceptions, BIA properly withheld portions of a “briefing report” pursuant to the attorney-client privilege and Exemptions 7(C) and 7(D), but it failed to justify its deliberative process privilege claims.

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