Am. Civil Liberties Union v. DHS, No. 15-9020, 2017 WL 1091595 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 22, 2017) (Sweet, J.)

Am. Civil Liberties Union v. DHS, No. 15-9020, 2017 WL 1091595 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 22, 2017) (Sweet, J.)

Re: Request for records concerning Juvenile Referral Program

Disposition: Granting in part and denying in part defendant's motion for partial summary judgment; granting in part and denying in part plaintiff's motion to compel release of certain documents and to compel defendant to respond to certain requests

• Exemption 7(E): The court holds that, "[b]ecause the CBP has not established that [questions asked of Juvenile Referral Program candidates] employed a specialized, calculated technique, Exemption 7(E) does not apply." The court finds that "CBP has not established that there is anything technical about the questions asked, that any special method or skills are being used, or that children who were subjected to questioning would not thereby learn the 'technique' that CBP wishes to keep secret." "It offered nothing more than the fact that these records would reveal that CBP asks questions about these topics and may ask follow-up questions." "Courts require the government to offer more than 'generic assertions' and 'boilerplate' to justify Exemption 7(E) withholding, . . . and the Government has not met its burden here."
   
• Litigation Considerations: The court notes that "[plaintiff] has conceded the applicability of Exemptions 6, 7(C) and 7(F)[,]" "the parties will meet and confer with respect to the applicability of the privacy exemptions[,]" and "[a]ny issues remaining after these events have been concluded can be the subject of renewed motions."