FOIA Advisor

Court opinions issued Sept. 19, 2023

Court Opinions (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

Radar Online v. FBI (S.D.N.Y.) -- deciding that: (1) FBI was entitled to raise Exemption 7(A) as grounds for withholding Jeffrey Epstein-related records due to changed circumstances, but agency failed to show how disclosure of particular investigatory records would interfere with a retrial of Ghislaine Maxwell if she prevailed on appeal; (2) FBI properly relied on Exemption 3 to withhold identifying information concerning minor children, but it failed to meet its burden regarding grand jury materials and juvenile arrest and criminal history information; (3) FBI properly withheld various records pursuant to Exemptions 5, 6, and 7(C), and 7(E); and (4) FBI established that Exemption 7(D) protected information provided by local law enforcement information, but it did not meet its burden with respect to information provided by other sources.

Cable News Network v. CIA (D.D.C.) -- holding that CIA properly relied on Exemptions 1 and 3 in refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records pertaining to deceased musician James Brown.

Inst. for Energy Research v. FERC (D.D.C.) -- determining that: (1) agency performed adequate search for two Commissioners’ calendars; (2) agency’s explanations for its withholdings under Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege were “insufficiently detailed”; and (3) agency properly withheld certain records pursuant to Exemption 6, but failed to justify its categorical withholding of the names of all “lower-level staff.”

Bakaj v. DHS (D.D.C.) -- ruling that DHS properly redacted the names of four CIA officials pursuant to Exemption 3 in conjunction with the Inspector General Act, National Security Act, and the CIA Act.

Wright v. FBI (D.D.C.) -- concluding that one of plaintiff’s requests was unreasonably described, the FBI conducted adequate searches with respect to four of five disputed items, and the FBI properly issued a Glomar response under Exemptions 1 and 3.

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