Price v. DOJ, 865 F.3d 676 (D.C. Cir. 2017) (Griffith, J.)

Price v. DOJ, 865 F.3d 676 (D.C. Cir. 2017) (Griffith, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning requester's criminal case

Disposition:  Reversing and remanding district court's grant of government's motion for summary judgment

• Procedural Requirements, FOIA Requesters:  "[The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit] [has] little trouble in concluding that the public interest in enforcing [the requester's] waiver is outweighed by the harm to public policy that enforcement would cause."  The court finds that "the government has not pointed [the court] to any legitimate criminal-justice interest served by allowing for FOIA waivers in plea agreements."  Further, the court finds that "FOIA . . . provides an important vehicle for vindicating significant rights – and for keeping prosecutors honest."  "Indeed, in some cases it provides the only vehicle."  "And the government, at least in this case, has not told or shown us how taking that tool away from criminal defendants serves the interests of justice compared to the harms those waivers cause."  "At the end of the day, a plea agreement that attempts to waive a right conferred by a federal statute is, like any other contract, 'unenforceable if the interest in its enforcement is outweighed [under] the circumstances by a public policy harmed by enforcement.'"  "To be clear, [the court] do[es] not hold that FOIA waivers in plea agreements are always unenforceable."  "[The court] simply hold[s] that the government may not invoke [the requester's] FOIA waiver as a basis for denying him access to the records he requests because, in this case, the government has given us no adequate rationale for enforcing this waiver in light of the public-policy harms [the requester] has identified."  "That's it."
  
  Writing in dissent, Circuit Judge Brown cautions the majority that while "[t]he Court suggests its answer is limited only to this case, . . . no FOIA guilty-plea waiver could ever meet the standard employed here."  "Now, the Government is burdened with proving a 'legitimate criminal-justice' interest that a court must accept before any guilty-plea waiver is valid."  Judge Brown states that "[t]he FOIA statute plays no substantive role in the Court's novel analysis."  "This is a case about guilty-plea waivers."  "Rather than revise the law, we should have applied the Supreme Court's waiver principles and upheld [the requester's] FOIA waiver."