Case Detail
| Case Title | JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| District | District of Columbia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Washington, DC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case Number | 1:2016cv01888 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date Filed | 2016-09-21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date Closed | 2017-10-25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Judge | Judge Rosemary M. Collyer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plaintiff | JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case Description | Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the FBI for records of interviews with Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and Valerie Jarrett pertaining to contacts made by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich inquiring about potential job appointments. Blagojevich was later convicted of various criminal charges, but some of those charges were ordered retried on appeal. The Supreme Court rejected Blagojevich's petition for certiorari and prosecutors decided not to retry him on any charges. In response to Judicial Watch's request, the FBI denied its request, citing Exemption 7(A) (interference with ongoing investigation or proceeding). Judicial Watch appealed the denial, but the Office of Information Policy upheld the agency's decision. Judicial Watch then filed suit. Complaint issues: Adequacy - Search, Litigation - Vaughn index, Litigation - Attorney's fees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defendant | U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appeal | D.C. Circuit 17-5283 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appeal | D.C. Circuit 19-5218 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Documents | Docket Complaint Complaint attachment 1 Complaint attachment 2 Complaint attachment 3 Complaint attachment 4 Opinion/Order [22] FOIA Project Annotation: Judge Rosemary Collyer has ruled that three FD-302 forms prepared by the FBI during its investigation of corruption charges by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich are protected by Exemption 7(A) (interference with ongoing investigation or proceeding) because Blagojevich's certiorari petition of his conviction to the Supreme Court is still pending. Judicial Watch requested any interviews the FBI conducted with Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, or Valerie Jarrett concerning Blagojevich. Although Collyer never described the contents of the FD-302s, certainly an inference exists that the FD-302s pertain to Obama, Emanuel, and Jarrett. The agency denied access to the FD-302s, citing Exemption 7(A) and Exemption 5 (privileges). Since Collyer found the FD-302s were entirely protected by Exemption 7(A), she did not analyze whether Exemption 5 applied as well. Judicial Watch argued that Blagojevich's cert petition to the Supreme Court was too attenuated to show that the case was still ongoing. Collyer disagreed. She noted that "the fact remains that (1) the FD-302s are records contained in a law enforcement investigative file that (2) is currently being directly appealed. That appeal may be very short-lived, but it is not the Court's role to guess how or when Rod Blagojevich's appeal may be resolved. Until that appeal is fully exhausted, disclosure of investigative materials could be reasonably expected to interfere with whatever occurs going forward. Rod Blagojevich has not exhausted his options for appeal before the courts, and, until that time at least, the government is entitled to preserve the strategies, theories, and impressions found in its investigative files." Collyer expressed concern that some of the investigative file could have entered the public domain during Blagojevich's trial. She pointed out that, here, that did not appear to be a concern, explaining that "had DOJ withheld its entire file, it may have been appropriate for it to detail which, if any, records had passed into the public domain as a result of the trial. However, in this instance, only three records are at issue, none of which is alleged to have been introduced as an exhibit, or otherwise passed into the public domain."
Opinion/Order [29]Issues: Exemption 7(A) - Interference with ongoing investigation FOIA Project Annotation: Judge Rosemary Collyer has ruled that the Department of Justice properly withheld FBI interviews with former President Barack Obama, former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and former presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett conducted during its investigation of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's attempts at extortion in connection with naming a new U.S. senator to replace Obama after he was elected President under Exemption 5 (privileges). When Judicial Watch requested the three Form 302 reports prepared by the FBI as part of the Blagojevich investigation, the agency originally withheld them under Exemption 7(A) (interference with ongoing investigation or proceeding). The agency continued to claim Exemption 7(A) until Blagojevich decided not to appeal his conviction to the Supreme Court. After 7(A) no longer applied, the agency claimed the interview reports were protected by the attorney work-product privilege. Collyer pointed out that "the fact that Mr. Blagojevich had already been arrested on a criminal complaint on December 9, 2008 â€" the same month the relevant interviews were conducted â€" demonstrates that the DOJ was actively engaged in litigation against Mr. Blagojevich, not merely contemplating it. Without a doubt, the FBI interviewed the Obama administration officials and prepared the Forms 302 reflecting those interviews when litigation was in the offing." Judicial Watch argued that because FBI agents are required to prepare Form 302 reports to memorialize interviews these three interviews were created pursuant to the agency's administrative policy rather than because of pending litigation. However, Collyer observed that "the germane inquiry is whether the Form 302 would have been prepared by the FBI agents but for the impending prosecution of Mr. Blagojevich. Because the interviews occurred and the Forms 302 were drafted 'for the purpose of gathering evidence that could be presented to a grand jury and that could factor into the case,' the Forms 302 were prepared in anticipation of litigation." Judicial Watch also claimed that the reports were not protected by the attorney work-product privilege because they were not prepared by attorneys. Collyer rejected that claim as well, noting that "law enforcement agents operating in their independent investigatory capacities are not usually considered attorney agents whose notes are protected as attorney work product, but once they are acting in a supportive role to the attorney preparing the case for indictment or prosecution, the attorney work-product protection applies to their work product under FOIA Exemption 5." Assessing the issue of segregability, Collyer explained that "as 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."
Issues: Exemption 5 - Privileges - Attorney work-product privilege compiled in anticipation of litigation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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