Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. IRS, No. 17-670, 2017 WL 3600394 (D.D.C. Aug. 18, 2017) (Boasberg. J.)

Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. IRS, No. 17-670, 2017 WL 3600394 (D.D.C. Aug. 18, 2017) (Boasberg. J.)

Re:  Requests for "'all of Donald J. Trump's individual income tax returns for tax years 2010 forward, and other indications of financial relations with the Russian government or Russian businesses'"

Disposition:  Granting defendant's motion to dismiss

• Procedural Requirements, Proper FOIA Requests & Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:  The court explains that, "[a]t bottom, [plaintiff] wants the IRS to reveal another person's income-tax returns without his consent."  "Although those returns happen to belong to President Trump, that fact does not alter the outcome here."  The court finds that "[t]he Internal Revenue Code and the various Treasury regulations on FOIA well articulate what must happen for the public release of an individual's private return information."  "[Plaintiff] must either obtain President Trump's consent to initiate a FOIA request or, as the organization itself suggests, convince Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation to sign off on the IRS's disclosure."  "As neither of these key missing actions can happen in court, Plaintiff's claims must be dismissed."  "Without such consent to release otherwise confidential information, the conclusion of this tax syllogism is plain: [plaintiff] simply has not perfected, or completed, its request, and its FOIA claims must therefore be dismissed for failure to exhaust."