The FOIA blog

Exxon Mobil Pipeline Spill Plan and Exemption 7F (I'm Quoted)

A component of the Department of Transportation has released parts of a spill plan for an oil pipeline that burst earlier this year, but withheld portions of the plan under Exemption 7(F).  The request was made by Inside Climate News who wrote about the release here.

The way I see it is that the agency is using Exemption 7(F) basically because the Supreme Court abolished the use of Exemption 2 for this type of material in its Milner decision.  Of course the problem here is that the exemption being used is a law enforcement exemption and the agency will have to establish that it meets the law enforcement threshhold before the actual elements of the exemption can be discussed.  If the case goes to court, it will be interesting to read the government's justification for its withholding.

Dams as Law Enforcement?

United States Federal District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein for the United States District of Columbia has found information concerning a dam meets the law enforcement threshhold and is protectible pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 7(e) and 7(f).  The finding was made after the use of Exemption 2 was invalidated by the Supreme Court's decision in Milner in 2011.

ACLU Files Opposition to Government Cert Petition in Detainee Photo Case

The ACLU has filed its Opposition to the Government's Petition for Cert before the Supreme Court in the ACLU's lawsuit against the Defense Department for photos of abuses of detainees.

At this point, the case basically boils down to how specific the government has to be in stating individuals could be harmed when invoking FOIA exemption 7(F).  In this case, the government has said the release of the photos could harm all military and civilians deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.  The Second Circuit found this was too broad -- a position the ACLU claims was correct. 

Detainee Photos Ordered Disclosable by Appeals Court

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed a lower court ruling that the government must release 21 photographs depicting abusive treatment of detainees by United States soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The suit was brought by the ACLU.

On appeal, the government asserted that the release of the photos should be withheld pursuant to Exemption 7(F) because release of the disputed photographs will endanger United States troops, other Coalition forces, and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Exemption 6 and 7(C) to protect the detainees themselves.

In a 52 page holding, the court found that exemption 7(F) does not apply to the case at hand and that redactions ordered by the district court make exemption 6 and 7(C) unavailable to the government in this case.  The decision is noteworthy on its lengthy discussion of 7(F), which is not an exemption prone to detailed analysis.  Here it takes center stage.  Additionally, a detailed analysis of the Geneva convention is offered with regard to the actual privacy of the detainees