Nat'l Immigrant Justice Ctr. v. DOJ, No. 12-04691, 2018 WL 1508531 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 27, 2018) (Wood, J.)

Nat'l Immigrant Justice Ctr. v. DOJ, No. 12-04691, 2018 WL 1508531 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 27, 2018) (Wood, J.)

Re: Request for Attorney General's communications related to eleven contested immigration decisions

Disposition: Granting in part and denying in part defendant's motion for summary judgment; granting in part and denying in part plaintiff's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Vaughn Index/Declaration & Exemption 5:  "The Court is unable to discern from the brief descriptions provided in the Vaughn indices whether all documents were properly excluded as part of the deliberative process. "  "Indeed, the Court agrees with [plaintiff] that some of the documents withheld by the government appear to fall outside of Exemption 5, since they appear to articulate internal agency policy."  However, the court also notes that "[plaintiff] does not appear to dispute the sufficiency of the descriptions of document[s] that were withheld due, in whole or in part, to the attorney-client privilege or attorney work-product protection."  "Thus, the Court finds that the documents labeled as covered by the attorney client privilege or attorney work-product protection are subject to FOIA Exemption 5."