Democracy Forward Found. v. DOJ, No. 18-00734, 2018 WL 6434769 (D.D.C. Dec. 7, 2018) (Mehta, J.)

Democracy Forward Found. v. DOJ, No. 18-00734, 2018 WL 6434769 (D.D.C. Dec. 7, 2018) (Mehta, J.)

Re:  Request for records provided to Office of Legal Policy by individuals who have been nominated to judgeships on federal courts of appeals

Disposition:  Granting defendant's Motion for Open America stay

• Litigation Considerations, "Open America" Stays of Proceedings:  The court holds that "[defendant's] Declaration establishes that the uptick in FOIA demands over the last two years is a significant departure from the rate of increase seen over the prior decade."  The court relates that "[f]rom FY 2016 to FY 2017, the number of FOIA requests increased by 1,015 – a ten-fold increase over the average increase over the prior nine years."  "[In the current fiscal year,] [t]he number of requests is expected to increase by 578, a more than five-fold increase over the pace seen from FY 2008 to FY 2016."  "What these large spikes mean is that OIP has seen a near doubling of FOIA demands over a two-year period[.]"  "Congress surely could not have anticipated such a dramatic acceleration of the number of requests for information made of OIP."  The court also finds that "[defendant] describes what steps OIP has taken to address the recent rise in such requests."  The court specifically notes that "OIP has responded by reassigning other OIP staff to FOIA processing on an ad hoc basis, and it has made modest staff additions to the FOIA team."  The court finds that "[w]hile the steps taken as to Plaintiff's specific FOIA request are quite limited in scope, Defendant's efforts pass muster in the face of the current circumstances."