DC CIRCUIT RULES GOVERNMENT PROPERLY WITHHELD NAMES AND INFORMATION CONCERNING POST-9/11 DETAINEES
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 17, No.4 , July 15, 2003

Ruling on an appeal of an action brought by public interest organizations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that the government properly withheld the names and other information concerning persons detained in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The ruling interprets a provision of the FOIA that exempts from disclosure “records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes . . . to the extent that the production” of them “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A).

The district court had ruled that this exemption covered the other information sought by the plaintiffs, but did not apply to the names of detainees and those of their attorneys. On appeal, the court of appeals found that those names as well are covered by the exemption. Circuit Judge Tatel filed a strong dissent, asserting that the majority opinion’s “uncritical deference to the government’s vague, poorly explained arguments for withholding broad categories of information about the detainees, as well as its willingness to fill in the factual and logical gaps in the government’s case, eviscerates both FOIA itself and the principles of openness in government that FOIA embodies.”

Center for National Security Studies v. U.S. Department of
Justice, Nos. 02-5254 and 02-5300 (D.C. Cir. June 17, 2003).

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