Cox v. BOP, No. 19-5966, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 3915 (6th Cir. Feb. 7, 2020) (per curiam)
Cox v. BOP, No. 19-5966, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 3915 (6th Cir. Feb. 7, 2020) (per curiam)
Re: Request for "'oath of office'" documents to determine if certain individuals were in fact BOP employees
Disposition: Vacating district court's sua sponte dismissal of requester's motion for summary judgment and remanding case for further proceedings
- Litigation Considerations, Pleadings: The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holds that "[a]t this early stage, without the benefit of the agencies' response, there was insufficient information in the record to enable the district court to identify and evaluate the privacy interest at stake, identify and evaluate the public interest in disclosure, and balance these potentially competing interests." The court relates that "[t]he district court dismissed [the requester's] complaint sua sponte . . . as frivolous and for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted." "[The requester's] primary argument on appeal is that the 'oath of office' documents that he sought were improperly withheld." "[The requester] alleges that the BOP denied his request on the ground that it sought the individuals' medical files, which are exempt from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)." "The Office of Information Policy and an official with the "Cheif [sic] Administrative Appeals" also allegedly denied the request on the same ground." The court finds that "[the requester's] complaint, accepted as true, adequately alleges that defendants improperly denied his FOIA request."