McClanahan v. DOJ, 712 F. App'x 6 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (per curiam)

McClanahan v. DOJ, 712 F. App'x 6 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (per curiam)

Re: Request for certain records concerning requesters

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

• Procedural Requirements, Searching for Responsive Records & Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  "[The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit] reject[s] [the requesters' claims] largely for the same reasons the district court did."  First, regarding the search adequacy, "[the court] see[s] nothing other than speculation that the FBI failed to turn up all responsive documents."  Second, regarding the scope of the request, the court finds that, "[c]ontrary to the [requester's] current characterization, . . . [the requester] sought documents about the FBI's investigation into his possession of classified information, not 'documents about the classified information' itself."  "If he had meant to make a sweeping request for all records about the classified information, regardless whether the records related to the investigation, the FBI could expect him to do so with greater precision, especially because FOIA largely exempts classified information."  Third, regarding the search cut-off-date, the court finds that "[t]he date-of-search cutoff was consistent with agency regulations[]" and "[the requesters] do not identify any specific cutoff date they believe would be appropriate."  Finally, regarding "[the requesters'] conten[tion] that the district court should not have accepted the FBI's ex parte declarations for in camera inspection[,]" the court notes that "[the requester] sought records about the FBI's investigation into his possession of classified information."  The court finds that "[u]nsurprisingly, his requests yielded classified records."  "The agency had to explain to the district court its 'justification[s] for nondisclosure' of those sensitive records."  "[I]t could not responsibly do so except by submitting some of its declarations ex parte for in camera inspection."