Mertes

Background 21 The Court ordered the IRS to submit this motion in connection with the IRS’s motion for 22 summary judgment. See Doc. No. 17. The IRS’s motion for summary judgment was 23 significantly redacted, to the point that the motion was clearly insufficient to meet the IRS’s 24 burden of establishing that a FOIA exception to disclosure applied. See Doc. Nos. 14, 17. 25 However, the IRS also requested that it be permitted to submit a copy of the Mertes Form 709, as 26 well as unredacted copies of the motion for summary judgment, supporting affidavits, and an 27 additional declaration for in camera consideration. See Doc. No. 15. 28 Mertes strenuously opposed the motion for in camera inspection. See Doc. No. 16. Following receipt of Mertes’s opposition, the Court administratively denied the pending summary judgment motion, ordered the IRS to file a supplemental motion for in camera review, and gave Mertes the opportunity to file a response to the supplemental motion. See Doc. No. 17. The parties have now submitted their supplemental briefing regarding in camera review. IRS’s Argument The IRS explains that it has publicly filed…