Serv. Women’s Action Network v. DOD, No. 13-2007, 2014 WL 2782186 (2d Cir. June 20, 2014) (per curiam)
Serv. Women’s Action Network v. DOD, No. 13-2007, 2014 WL 2782186 (2d Cir. June 20, 2014) (per curiam)
Re: Request for records concerning Military Sexual Trauma and related conduct in armed forces
Disposition: Affirming district court's grant of defendant's motion for summary judgment
- Litigation Considerations, Considerations on Appeal: The court holds that "[a]ppellants have failed to demonstrate that the District Court erred in declining to review their new request and, indeed, in concluding that the record before it was inadequate to do so." First, the court finds that it is "confident in [its] jurisdiction over this appeal" because "[a]ppellants, at a minimum, argued for consideration of their purportedly narrowed request in their opposition to summary judgment and at oral argument before the District Court, and the District Court rejected consideration of that request in its order and judgment on appeal." Turning to the merits, the court rejects appellant's argument "that FOIA litigants be permitted to pursue requests that have been narrowed during litigation." The court finds that "the cases Appellants cite in support of this broad rule are inapposite" and "it is doubtful whether permitting FOIA litigants to narrow their requests at will in the midst of ongoing litigation would not itself destroy the 'prompt' and 'efficient' disclosure of government records, as litigants continually test the permissible breadth of their requests."