U.S. Department
of Justice
Court Decisions Overview
Each year the federal courts issue hundreds of decisions in FOIA cases, addressing all aspects of the law. These decisions shape the way the law is interpreted and applied by the many attorneys and access professionals across the government who handle FOIA requests, administrative appeals, and litigation. To aid those professionals, and to facilitate greater understanding of the FOIA overall, OIP posts summaries of FOIA decisions to this website.
Although we have designed these summaries to reflect the key aspects of each decision, by their nature these are summaries only, and such things as internal citations and quotations have been omitted. Our goal is to provide readers with an overview of the cases as they are decided during the year, but for a complete understanding of any given case readers are, of course, encouraged to read it in its entirety.
Using the Court Decisions Page
This website includes decisions decided since January 2013. Summaries of decisions decided between May 2009 and December 2012 are available in the Court Decisions Archive. All decisions are presented chronologically, based on the date of issuance, with the most recent decision appearing first. Each decision is tagged topically with the relevant exemption or procedural consideration addressed.
You can view all decisions tagged with a particular topic or court by using the “Topic” drop down menu. For example, to see all cases where Exemption 5 is addressed, select “Exemption 5.”
You can search through each decision summary for keywords or phrases using the “Keyword Search” feature. For example, to see all cases with a particular term, such as “e-mail” or “affirming,” you can type in the term or phrase to retrieve all court decision summaries where it appears. You can also use this feature to locate decisions from a particular court by searching for the court acronym, such as “D.C. Cir” for all decisions from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Am. First Legal Found. v. DOJ, No. 22-1427, 2025 WL 2758222 (D.D.C. Sept. 26, 2025) (Contreras, J.)
Am. First Legal Found. v. DOJ, No. 22-1427, 2025 WL 2758222 (D.D.C. Sept. 26, 2025) (Contreras, J.)
Re: Request for records concerning individual who pled guilty to arson resulting in death during 2020 Minneapolis protests
Disposition: Granting in part and denying in part defendant’s motion for summary judgment; granting in part and denying in part plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment
- Procedural...
Grand Marina Invs. v. IRS, No. 23-1676, 2025 WL 2757756 (D.D.C. Sept. 26, 2025) (Lamberth, J.)
Grand Marina Invs. v. IRS, No. 23-1676, 2025 WL 2757756 (D.D.C. Sept. 26, 2025) (Lamberth, J.)
Re: Request for records concerning defendant’s change of settlement offer
Disposition: Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment
- Litigation Considerations, Evidentiary Showing, Adequacy of Search: “The Court agrees with the IRS that [plaintiff’s] challenge to the adequacy of this search was subject...
Petrova v. DHS, No. 25-00240, 2025 WL 2772764 (D. Vt. Sept. 26, 2025) (Reiss, C.J.)
Petrova v. DHS, No. 25-00240, 2025 WL 2772764 (D. Vt. Sept. 26, 2025) (Reiss, C.J.)
Re: Request for records concerning plaintiff’s “admission at the Boston Logan Airport”
Disposition: Granting defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s FOIA claims
- Litigation Considerations, Venue: The court relates that “[plaintiff] does not reside or have her principal place of business in Vermont, nor does she...
Jones v. DOJ, No. 22-00476, 2025 WL 2732712 (D.D.C. Sept. 25, 2025) (Mehta, J.)
Jones v. DOJ, No. 22-00476, 2025 WL 2732712 (D.D.C. Sept. 25, 2025) (Mehta, J.)
Re: Request for records concerning plaintiff’s prosecution
Disposition: Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment
- Litigation Considerations, Evidentiary Showing, Adequacy of Search: “After the court’s February 2024 order, USAO-EDTN followed the ‘obvious lead’ and recalled potentially responsive records at the...
Power the Future v. Dep’t of the Interior, No. 24-2453, 2025 WL 2732745 (D.D.C. Sept. 25, 2025) (Bates, J.)
Power the Future v. Dep’t of the Interior, No. 24-2453, 2025 WL 2732745 (D.D.C. Sept. 25, 2025) (Bates, J.)
Re: Request for text messages sent to or from Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, from January 21 to February 28, 2021 and from June 30 to July 30, 2022
Disposition: Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment
- Litigation Considerations, Evidentiary Showing, Adequacy of Search: The court...
Am. Oversight, Inc. v. HHS, No. 17-827, 2025 WL 2718977 (D.D.C. Sept. 24, 2025) (Sullivan, J.)
Am. Oversight, Inc. v. HHS, No. 17-827, 2025 WL 2718977 (D.D.C. Sept. 24, 2025) (Sullivan, J.)
Re: Request for records concerning healthcare reform legislation in 2017, specifically agency communications with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means
Disposition: Denying plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment; granting defendants’ cross-motion for summary judgment
- Procedural...
Informed Consent Action Network v. CDC, No. 23-747, 2025 WL 2719281 (D.D.C. Sept. 24, 2025) (Harvey, J.)
Informed Consent Action Network v. CDC, No. 23-747, 2025 WL 2719281 (D.D.C. Sept. 24, 2025) (Harvey, J.)
Re: Request for certain records concerning the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System
Disposition: Denying defendants’ motion for summary judgment; denying plaintiff’s cross-motion for summary judgment
- Exemption 5, “Inter-Agency or Intra-Agency” Threshold Requirement: The court relates that...
Government Accountability & Oversight v. SEC, No. 23-2462, 2025 WL 2709790 (D.D.C. Sept. 23, 2025) (Alikhan, J.)
Government Accountability & Oversight v. SEC, No. 23-2462, 2025 WL 2709790 (D.D.C. Sept. 23, 2025) (Alikhan, J.)
Re: Request for certain email communications
Disposition: Granting in part and denying in part defendant’s motion for summary judgment
- Exemption 5, Deliberative Process Privilege: The court holds that, “[t]o begin, there is no ‘blanket requirement that a Vaughn Index must contain the...
Gonzalez-Gallegos v. DOJ, No. 17-00421, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186978 (D. Az. Sept. 23, 2025) (Collins, J.)
Gonzalez-Gallegos v. DOJ, No. 17-00421, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186978 (D. Az. Sept. 23, 2025) (Collins, J.)
Re: Requests for records concerning plaintiff’s criminal prosecution
Disposition: Dismissing plaintiff’s FOIA claims
- Litigation Considerations: The court finds that “Plaintiff’s last involvement in this action was on May 22, 2025, when Plaintiff acknowledged he was no longer able to litigate...
Bourne v. DOJ, No. 24-5182, 2025 WL 2691079 (D.C. Cir. Sept. 19, 2025) (per curiam)
Bourne v. DOJ, No. 24-5182, 2025 WL 2691079 (D.C. Cir. Sept. 19, 2025) (per curiam)
Re: Request for records concerning the requester
Disposition: Granting government’s motion for summary affirmance
- Litigation Considerations, Evidentiary Showing, Adequacy of Search: The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit holds that “the district court correctly concluded that the search conducted...