Bartko v. BOP, No. 26-489, 2026 WL 2209843 (D.D.C. July 31, 2026) (Boasberg, C.J.)

Bartko v. BOP, No. 26-489, 2026 WL 2209843 (D.D.C. July 31, 2026) (Boasberg, C.J.)

Re: Request for records concerning term of supervised release policy

Disposition:  Rejecting plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction

• Litigation Considerations, Preliminary Injunctions:  The court finds that “Plaintiff does not cite which provision would entitle him to expedited processing (let alone acknowledge that he must show this), his arguments sound in one qualifying circumstance only:  for requests involving ‘[t]he loss of substantial due process rights.’”  “[Plaintiff] requested records about BOP’s reaction to the Ninth Circuit’s decision holding that time credits must be used to reduce time on supervised release, . . . which he says that he needs to help him litigate his several lawsuits challenging his own continued supervision.”  “Without such records, he contends, he will be ‘unable to participate in that litigation on equal footing, creating a continuing procedural disadvantage.’” “It does not violate due process, however, to litigate without the added help of FOIA.”  “After all, if Congress had never enacted the statute, [plaintiff] could hardly claim that having to file a complaint using only the facts available to him somehow violates his Fifth Amendment rights.”  “Instead, he must seek information for his lawsuit in the usual way – by filing a complaint that plausibly states a claim for relief.” “Nothing about that violates due process.”  “At bottom, [plaintiff] is trying to use a FOIA PI to achieve a kind of discovery as of right, extracting information from Defendants that Rules 8 and 12 would otherwise bar him from accessing here.”  “Yet the Supreme Court has emphasized over and over that FOIA is not a discovery tool and cannot be used to circumvent the rules of civil litigation.”  “Having to follow those rules would not deny [plaintiff] substantial due-process rights and so does not entitle him to expedited processing.”  “Without a right to such processing, he is unlikely to succeed on the merits of his PI Motion.”