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Truthout & Jeffrey Light v. Department of Justice

District Court, District of Columbia
2013 WL 5630250, 968 F. Supp. 2d 32, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148465 (2013)
ELI5:

Rule of Law:

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), an agency's search for responsive records is considered adequate if it is reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents. An agency is only required to conduct a good-faith search of those record systems likely to contain responsive information and is not obligated to search every system.


Facts:

  • Truthout and Jeffrey Light submitted multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the FBI, seeking records concerning the 'Occupy Wall Street' protest movement and related encampments.
  • In response, the FBI searched its Central Records System (CRS), its main electronic repository, using 43 specific search terms related to the Occupy movement, such as 'Occupy Oakland' and 'OWS'.
  • The FBI's search of the CRS located some responsive records, which were released to Truthout.
  • Truthout argued the search was inadequate because the FBI did not search its Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) system or its shared computer drives.
  • The FBI's standard practice is to search the ELSUR system only upon specific request or if information in the CRS indicates a responsive ELSUR record exists; Truthout only specifically requested an ELSUR search in one of its multiple requests.
  • In a separate case, Shapiro v. FBI, the FBI produced a document concerning a sniper threat against 'Occupy Houston' protestors.
  • This document from the Shapiro case was not located in the Truthout search because it was not indexed with any of the 43 search terms the FBI used.

Procedural Posture:

  • Truthout and Jeffrey Light (Plaintiffs) sued the Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to compel the release of records under FOIA.
  • The Department of Justice (Defendant) filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting its search was legally adequate.
  • The district court granted the Department of Justice's motion for summary judgment.
  • Plaintiffs subsequently filed a motion for reconsideration of the court's summary judgment ruling.

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Issue:

Does an agency's search for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) meet the standard of reasonableness if the agency searches its main comprehensive records system but declines to search other specific systems that, according to its declaration, are unlikely to contain responsive information?


Opinions:

Majority - Judge Rosemary M. Collyer

Yes. An agency's search for records is adequate under FOIA if it conducts a good-faith, reasonable search of the systems of records most likely to possess the requested documents. The standard is one of reasonableness, not perfection, and an agency is not required to search every record system. The FBI's decision to primarily search its Central Records System (CRS) was reasonable because the CRS is its comprehensive, principal repository for law enforcement information. The FBI's declaration explained that a search of CRS would have identified cross-references to any relevant ELSUR files or shared drives, and no such references were found. The fact that a single responsive document was discovered in another case does not render the search inadequate, as the adequacy of a search is judged by the appropriateness of the method, not by the results. That document was not indexed in a way that the FBI's reasonable search terms would have located it, therefore its non-discovery does not prove the search itself was unreasonable.



Analysis:

This decision reinforces the significant deference courts grant to agencies in determining the scope of a FOIA search. It clarifies that a search's adequacy is measured by the reasonableness of the search method, not by whether every single responsive document is ultimately found. The ruling establishes that plaintiffs cannot overcome an agency's detailed declaration of a reasonable search with mere speculation that more documents might exist in unsearched systems. This holding makes it more difficult for FOIA requesters to compel agencies to conduct exhaustive searches of all possible record systems without concrete evidence that the agency's chosen search strategy was deficient.

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