Court Decisions Overview
Each year the federal courts issue hundreds of decisions in FOIA cases, addressing all aspects of the law. These decisions shape the way the law is interpreted and applied by the many attorneys and access professionals across the government who handle FOIA requests, administrative appeals, and litigation. To aid those professionals, and to facilitate greater understanding of the FOIA overall, OIP posts summaries of FOIA decisions to this website.
Although we have designed these summaries to reflect the key aspects of each decision, by their nature these are summaries only, and such things as internal citations and quotations have been omitted. Our goal is to provide readers with an overview of the cases as they are decided during the year, but for a complete understanding of any given case readers are, of course, encouraged to read it in its entirety.
Using the Court Decisions Page
This website includes decisions decided since January 2013. Summaries of decisions decided between May 2009 and December 2012 are available in the Court Decisions Archive. All decisions are presented chronologically, based on the date of issuance, with the most recent decision appearing first. Each decision is tagged topically with the relevant exemption or procedural consideration addressed.
You can view all decisions tagged with a particular topic or court by using the “Topic” drop down menu. For example, to see all cases where Exemption 5 is addressed, select “Exemption 5.”
You can search through each decision summary for keywords or phrases using the “Keyword Search” feature. For example, to see all cases with a particular term, such as “e-mail” or “affirming,” you can type in the term or phrase to retrieve all court decision summaries where it appears. You can also use this feature to locate decisions from a particular court by searching for the court acronym, such as “D.C. Cir” for all decisions from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Esposito v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury, No. 23-1242, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 830 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 9, 2024) (per curiam)
Esposito v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury, No. 23-1242, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 830 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 9, 2024) (per curiam)
Re: Request for certain records concerning requester
Disposition: Transferring complaint to district court
- Litigation Considerations, Jurisdiction: The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia holds that “[j]urisdiction over [the requester’s] Freedom of Information...
Sherven v. FBI, No. 23-03923, 2024 WL 551655 (D.D.C. Feb. 9, 2024) (Contreras, J.)
Sherven v. FBI, No. 23-03923, 2024 WL 551655 (D.D.C. Feb. 9, 2024) (Contreras, J.)
Re: Plaintiff’s allegations that the FBI is preventing plaintiff from submitting requests
Disposition: Dismissing plaintiff’s case
- Procedural Requirements, Proper FOIA Requests; Litigation Considerations, Jurisdiction: The court relates that, “[a]llegedly, ‘whenever the Plaintiff clicks the button to...
Leytman v. United States, No. 18-1794, 2024 WL 496774 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 8, 2024) (Morrison, J.)
Leytman v. United States, No. 18-1794, 2024 WL 496774 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 8, 2024) (Morrison, J.)
Re: Request for records concerning plaintiff
Disposition: Granting defendant’s motion to dismiss
- Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies: The court observes that “[t]he Amended Complaint alleges that Plaintiff made an initial request for documents under FOIA to the TSA...
Bahrampour v. NSA, No. 21-2412, 2024 WL 473734 (D. Md. Feb. 7, 2024) (Russell, III, J.)
Bahrampour v. NSA, No. 21-2412, 2024 WL 473734 (D. Md. Feb. 7, 2024) (Russell, III, J.)
Re: Requests for certain records concerning plaintiff
Disposition: Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment
- Exemption 1: The court relates that “[a]t issue here is Executive Order No. 13526, 75 Fed. Reg. 707, 707 (Dec. 29, 2009), which provides that an agency may designate documents as...
Haitian Bridge All. v. DHS, No. 22-8344, 2024 WL 476304 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2024) (Ramos, J.)
Haitian Bridge All. v. DHS, No. 22-8344, 2024 WL 476304 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2024) (Ramos, J.)
Re: Requests for records concerning treatment of certain migrants
Disposition: Granting defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment; denying plaintiff’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment
- Procedural Requirements, Proper FOIA Requests: “The Court finds that the disputed portions of...
Marker v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ., No. 23-05873, 2024 WL 68554 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2024) (Scott Corley, J.)
Marker v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ., No. 23-05873, 2024 WL 68554 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2024) (Scott Corley, J.)
Re: Request for records concerning plaintiff’s student loans
Disposition: Screening plaintiff’s amended complaint and allowing service of amended complaint on defendant
- Litigation Considerations, Pleadings: The court finds that, “[i]nterpreting the complaint ‘liberally,’ Plaintiff has...
Frost Brown Todd LLC v. Ctrs. for Medicare & Medicaid Servs., No. 21-2784, 2024 WL 450056 (D.D.C. Feb. 5, 2024) (Chutkan, J.)
Frost Brown Todd LLC v. Ctrs. for Medicare & Medicaid Servs., No. 21-2784, 2024 WL 450056 (D.D.C. Feb. 5, 2024) (Chutkan, J.)
Re: Six requests for records concerning Medicare program
Disposition: Granting in part and denying in part defendant’s partial motion to dismiss
- Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies; Procedural Requirements, Proper FOIA Requests: The...
Sherven v. NSA, No. 23-603, 2024 WL 418745 (W.D. Wis. Feb. 5, 2024) (Peterson, J.)
Sherven v. NSA, No. 23-603, 2024 WL 418745 (W.D. Wis. Feb. 5, 2024) (Peterson, J.)
Re: Plaintiff’s allegation that he submitted three FOIA requests to NSA
Disposition: Dismissing plaintiff’s complaint without prejudice
- Litigation Considerations, Pleadings & Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies: The court finds that “[plaintiff’s] complaint has two problems.” “First, he hasn’t...
United States v. Datta, No. 11-0102, 14-8653, 2024 LEXIS 21026 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 2, 2024) (Kaplan, J.)
United States v. Datta, No. 11-0102, 14-8653, 2024 LEXIS 21026 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 2, 2024) (Kaplan, J.)
Re: Requests for records concerning plaintiff’s criminal case
Disposition: Denying plaintiff’s application
- Litigation Considerations, Pleadings; Procedural Requirements, Entities Subject to the FOIA: The court relates that “[plaintiff] now purports to move pursuant to the [FOIA] – both...
Bebris v. Nat’l Ctr. for Missing & Exploited Child., Inc., No. 23-03715, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23853 (D.D.C. Feb. 2, 2024) (Cooper, J.)
Bebris v. Nat’l Ctr. for Missing & Exploited Child., Inc., No. 23-03715, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23853 (D.D.C. Feb. 2, 2024) (Cooper, J.)
Re: Requests for certain information and statistics
Disposition: Dismissing plaintiff’s case
- Procedural Requirements, Entities Subject to the FOIA: The court holds that “[defendant] . . . is a non-profit organization that is not subject to the FOIA...