No. 20-29

Sara Discepolo v. Department of Justice

Lower Court: District of Columbia
Docketed: 2020-07-16
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: administrative-law agency-deference civil-procedure de-novo-review discovery-rights foia-review freedom-of-information-act judicial-presumption national-security presumption-of-good-faith summary-judgment
Key Terms:
AdministrativeLaw Environmental Securities Privacy
Latest Conference: 2020-09-29
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Are the courts violating the FOIA and its mandate to conduct de novo review by applying the presumption in cases which have nothing to do with national security?

Question Presented (from Petition)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW In all Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) cases, the federal courts apply a deferential “presumption of good ; faith” to agency declarations and forego discovery unless . the requestor can show “bad faith” by the agency. 1. Are the courts violating the FOIA and its mandate to conduct de novo review by applying the presumption in cases which have nothing to do with national security? 2. Do the courts have any power to deny FOIA requestors the same benefits under the Federal Rules that other civil litigants enjoy, including the right to pre-trial discovery? The Petitioner presented countervailing evidence of overlooked materials that the agency failed to address in its declarations. Despite this, the lower court granted summary judgment to the agency and the court of appeals : summarily affirmed. 8. Did the lower court’s deference to the agency via the presumption cause it to adopt a sham interpretation of the requests used by the agency to circumvent Greentree and ignore the agency’s exclusion of court records from its searches prohibited by Tax Analysts and McGehee? 4. Did the lower court conduct a trial by affidavit on the agency’s summary judgment motions and did the court of appeals clearly misapprehend summary judgment law in light of binding Supreme Court precedent? ii 5. Did the lower courts violate the Magistrate Act and : reduce the litigation to an unappealable administrative proceeding? il ,

Docket Entries

2020-10-05
Petition DENIED.
2020-08-19
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
2020-08-17
Waiver of right of respondent Department of Justice to respond filed.
2020-07-11
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 17, 2020)

Attorneys

Department of Justice
Jeffrey B. WallActing Solicitor General, Respondent
Jeffrey B. WallActing Solicitor General, Respondent
Sara Discepolo
Sara Discepolo — Petitioner
Sara Discepolo — Petitioner