Am. Civil Liberties Union v. DOJ, 844 F.3d 126 (2d Cir. 2016) (Newman, J.)

Am. Civil Liberties Union v. DOJ, 844 F.3d 126 (2d Cir. 2016) (Newman, J.)

Re: Request for certain documents concerning drone program

Disposition: Affirming in part and reversing in part district court's partial grant of government's motion for summary judgment; denying requester's appeal

• Exemption 5, Deliberative Process Privilege: The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit first holds that "continued withholding of documents challenged on [the requester's] appeal and reversal of the District Court's disclosure rulings challenged on the Government's cross-appeal are warranted either because disclosure would reveal information that should remain secret or because the documents are predecisional drafts protected by FOIA Exemption 5." The court then discusses several documents and additionally finds that "segregation could not be made." Second, the court considers the government's cross-appeal of the district court's order to disclose certain documents and finds that the documents are "predecisional under Exemption 5 and therefore need not be disclosed."