Detroit Free Press, Inc. v. DOJ, No. 14-1670, 796 F.3d 649 (6th Cir. Aug. 12, 2015) (per curiam)

Detroit Free Press, Inc. v. DOJ, No. 14-1670, 796 F.3d 649 (6th Cir. Aug. 12, 2015) (per curiam)

Re: Request for booking photographs of four police officers

Disposition: Affirming district court's grant of plaintiff's motion for summary judgment

• Exemption 7(C):  The Sixth Circuit holds that "several factors merit revisiting Free Press I[,] [b]ut [the court] remain[s] bound by [its] precedent and therefore affirm[s]."  The Sixth Circuit finds that "[a]lthough [it] must follow Free Press I, . . . [it] urge[s] the full court to reconsider whether Exemption 7(C) applies to booking photographs."  "In particular, [the Sixth Circuit] question[s] the panel's conclusion that defendants have no interest in preventing the public release of their booking photographs during ongoing criminal proceedings."  The Sixth Circuit explains that "[b]ooking photographs convey the sort of potentially embarrassing or harmful information protected by the exemption: they capture how an individual appeared at a particularly humiliating moment immediately after being taken into federal custody."  "Such images convey an 'unmistakable badge of criminality' and, therefore, provide more information to the public than a person's mere appearance."  Additionally, the Sixth Circuit notes that "[a] criminal defendant's privacy interest in his booking photographs persists even if the public can access other information pertaining to his arrest and prosecution."  "Further, criminal defendants do not forfeit their interest in controlling private information while their cases remain pending."  "Moreover, booking photographs often remain publicly available on the Internet long after a case ends, undermining the temporal limitations presumed by Free Press I."