Islamic Shura Council v. Federal Bureau of Investigation

In this Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) case, the government brings an interlocutory appeal challenging the district court’s sealed, ex parte order (“Sealed Order”) containing the district court’s decision to make all of its contents public. The government contends that the Sealed Order contains some sensitive national security and law enforcement information. The district court was justifiably annoyed with the government’s withholding of documents from the plaintiffs and the court. The withholding misled the court into believing the government had complied with all its statutory obligations under the FOIA. It was not until the court convened ex parte, in camera proceedings that it learned of the existence of additional documents which were responsive to the plaintiffs’ FOIA requests. We do not necessarily endorse the government’s conduct during the litigation, but we agree with the government that the Sealed Order contains information that should not become public. We therefore vacate the Sealed Order and remand for its revision in further proceedings.

I. Background

On May 15, 2006, plaintiffs, five citizens and six organizations in Southern California, submitted a…