Case 1:12-cv-00127-BJR Document 40 Filed 03/04/15 Page 5 of 22
820, 823 (D.C. Cir. 1973). “FOIA represents a balance struck by Congress between the public’s
right to know and the government’s legitimate interest in keeping certain information
confidential.” Ctr. for Nat. Sec. Studies v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 331 F.3d 918, 925 (D.C. Cir.
2003) (citing John Doe Agency v. John Doe Corp., 493 U.S. 146, 152 (1989)). The nine
exemptions the Government may invoke to justify a refusal to produce records must be
“construed narrowly,” to “provide the maximum access consonant with the overall purpose of
the Act.” Vaughn, 484 F.2d at 823.
Most FOIA cases can be resolved on summary judgment. See Brayton v. Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative, 641 F.3d 521, 527 (D.C. Cir. 2011). Summary judgment is granted
when there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact, and the movant is entitled to judgment
as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986). In
a FOIA case, an agency is entitled to summary judgment if it can demonstrate that there are no
material facts in dispute as to the adequacy of its search for or production of responsive records.
Nat’l Whistleblower Ctr. v. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., 849 F. Supp. 2d 13, 21-22
(D.D.C. 2012).
Where a plaintiff challenges an agency’s withholding, “the burden is on [the agency] to
establish [its] right to withhold information from the public . . . .” Coastal States Gas Corp. v.
Dep't of Energy, 617 F.2d 854, 861 (D.C. Cir. 1980). An agency can rely on sufficiently detailed
declarations or affidavits, a Vaughn index, or both to establish that a withholding is proper. See
Bigwood, 484 F. Supp. 2d at 74. Declarations must (1) “describe the documents and the
justifications for nondisclosure with reasonably specific detail,” (2) “demonstrate that the
information withheld logically falls within the claimed exemption,” and (3) “are not controverted
by either contrary evidence in the record nor by evidence of agency bad faith.” Elect. Privacy
5