Brown v. FBI, No. 23-5244, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13858 (D.C. Cir. June 6, 2024) (per curiam)

Brown v. FBI, No. 23-5244, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13858 (D.C. Cir. June 6, 2024) (per curiam)

Re:  Request for records concerning incident which occurred on December 2, 2015 at Inland Regional Center in San Bernadino, CA

Disposition:  Denying government’s motion for summary affirmance of district court’s grant of government’s motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations:  The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit holds that “[t]he merits of the parties’ positions are not so clear as to warrant summary action.”  Additionally, the court orders that “a member of the Bar of this court, be appointed as amicus curiae to present arguments in favor of [the requester’s] position that amicus determines are potentially meritorious.”  “The court has concluded that it is in the court’s interest to appoint amicus.”  “While not otherwise limited, amicus is directed to address the following issues:  (1) whether appellee properly construed the scope of appellant’s request under the [FOIA] . . . ; and (2) whether appellee satisfied its burden of demonstrating that disclosure of the material withheld under [Exemption 7(D)] would foreseeably harm an interest protected by that exemption.”