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.
The New York Times Co. v. DOJ, No. 11 Civ. 9336, 2013 WL 50209 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2013) (McMahon, J.)
- Adequacy of Search: After reviewing the...
Ahmed v. USCIS, No. 11-cv-6230, 2013 WL 27697 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 2, 2013) (Amon, Chief J.)
- Litigation Considerations: The court rejects plaintiff's argument that USCIS cannot invoke Exemption 7(E) the first time in its reply brief. The court comments that "[d]efendants raised this exemption prior to oral argument on this motion, and so" the...
Raher v. BOP, No. 09-cv-526-ST, 2013 WL 26205 (D. Or. Jan. 2, 2013) (Stewart, Magistrate J.)
- Attorney Fees:...
Klinger v. Corrections Corp. of Am., Inc., No. 4:11cv2299, 2013 WL 143535 (N.D. Ohio Jan. 11, 2012) (Pearson, J.)
- Mootness: The court explains that the "magistrate judge found that…the United States provided evidence that the BOP has fully responded to...
Am. Mgmt. Servs., LLC v. Dep't of Army, 703 F.3d 724 (4th Cir. 2013)
- Exemption 4: The Fourth Circuit finds that "public disclosure of [certain] documents would impair the government's ability to...
ACLU v. CIA, No. 11-5320, 2013 WL 1003688 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (Garland, J.)
- Glomar/Exemptions 1 and 3: The D.C. Circuit reverses the district court...
Toole v. Obama, No. 1:12CV-363-KS-MTP, 2013 WL 943458 (S.D. Miss. Mar, 11, 2013) (Starrett, J.)
- Proper Party Defendant: The court dismisses plaintiff's general allegations regarding "Open Public Records Act Law." The court construes this allegation as an allegation...
Cabrera v. DOJ, No. 13-40022, 2013 WL 3815973 (5th Cir. 2013) (per curiam)
- In Pauperis Status: The Fifth Circuit holds that "28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) required [appellant], as the prisoner seeking to bring a civil action without prepaying the fees, to file a copy of the [inmate...
ACLU of New Jersey v. FBI, 733 F.3d 526 (3rd Cir. 2013) (Smith, J.)
- Exemption 7(A): The Third Circuit concludes that, "ample evidence supported the District Court's conclusion that [defendant] satisfied its burden under Exemption 7A," and, "[a]ccordingly, [the court] need not decide whether [defendant's]...