Judicial Watch, Inc. v. DOJ, No. 19-5218, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 12565 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 17, 2020) (per curiam)

Judicial Watch, Inc. v. DOJ, No. 19-5218, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 12565 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 17, 2020) (per curiam)

Re:  Request for records concerning FBI interviews with former President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, and Rahm Emanuel, concerning former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich

Disposition:  Affirming district court's grant of government's motion for summary judgment

• Exemption 5, Deliberative Process Privilege:  The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit holds that "the government has adequately demonstrated that the FD-302s ["forms the FBI requires Agents to use to summarize 'important facts and statements made by a potential witness in the course of an interview conducted by FBI Special Agents, sometimes in conjunction with federal prosecutors,'"] fit within the attorney work-product privilege for purposes of Exemption 5."  The court finds that "[the government's] declaration establishes that the information captured in the three FD-302s was 'obtained because of the prospect of litigation.'"  "All three interviews took place in December 2008, the month of Blagojevich's arrest, and were undertaken 'for the purpose of gathering evidence that could be presented to a grand jury and that could factor into the case to be presented at the trial.'"  "The interviews were 'conducted at the direction of the career DOJ prosecutors assigned,' and prosecutors participated in determining the investigative strategy for each interview and in questioning the witnesses."  "In addition, all of the AUSAs on the investigation team reviewed the FD-302s at issue."
   
• Litigation Considerations, "Reasonably Segregable" Requirements:  The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit "also affirm[s] the district court's conclusion that, because the 'entire contents of the records at issue here constitute attorney work product, protected from disclosure by Exemption 5 in their entirety, there is no segregable information.'"