American Civil Liberties Union v. Federal Bureau of Investigation

ORDER REGARDING CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the Asian Law Caucus, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian filed this action, averring that the Federal Bureau of Investigations has improperly withhéld or redacted documents in violation of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (2012). In 2010, the Plaintiffs filed two FOIA. requests, seeking documents relating to the FBI’s alleged surveillance activities of Muslim and other ethnic and racial groups in Northern California. The FBI has produced responsive documents and an index describing the documents withheld or redacted and explaining why the documents are not subject to disclosure.

Haying failed to demonstrate that 5 U.S.C. § 522 (b)(7) — Exemption 7 — justifies withholding and redaction of the documents that Plaintiffs seek, the FBI now asserts that it has properly withheld and redacted documents pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 522 (b)(5) (Exemption 5). That exemption shields from disclosure documents and information covered by the attorney-client and deliberative-process privileges. Lahr v. Nat’l Transp. Safety Bd., 569 F.3d 964, 979 (9th…