Steinberg v. United States Department of Justice

179 F.R.D. 357, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10165, 1998 WL 384018
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedApril 28, 1998
DocketNo. Civ.A. 93-2409-LFO
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 179 F.R.D. 357 (Steinberg v. United States Department of Justice) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Steinberg v. United States Department of Justice, 179 F.R.D. 357, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10165, 1998 WL 384018 (D.D.C. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

OBERDORFER, District Judge.

This case, one of three brought by plaintiff Jeffrey Steinberg against agencies of the federal government, involves a petition for numerous documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 (1994). See also Steinberg v. United States Dep’t of Justice, Civ. No. 91-2740; Steinberg v. United States Dep’t of Treasury, Civ. No. 93-2848. In several requests submitted to the Headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBIHQ), eight FBI field offices, and two Legal Attaches, Steinberg sought documents pertaining to himself and Dan Bar Farm, located in Pulaski County, Virginia. When these administrative attempts failed, Steinberg filed the present suit against defendant U.S. Department of Justice on November 23, 1993.

Currently pending are Steinberg’s Second Cross-Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [docket no. 122; filed 2/26/97], Steinberg’s Second Motion for Leave to Take Discovery Pursuant to F.R.C.P. Rule 56(f) [123; 2/26/97], the Justice Department’s Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment [170; 10/24/97], Steinberg’s Fourth Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment [174; 11/7/97], and Steinberg’s Motion to Compel a Supplemental Vaughn Index [173; 11/7/97], For the reasons stated below, an accompanying order will deny summary judgment for Steinberg and grant summary judgment in part and deny it in part for the Justice Department.

I.

Steinberg’s complaint states five separate FOIA counts against the Justice Department. On October 31, 1995, a Memorandum and Order granted in part the Department’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. That motion addressed portions of Count 2 (pertaining to requests to the Charlotte and New York field offices); portions of Count 4 (pertaining to a request to FBI Headquarters concerning the Foreign Counterintelligence Manual); and the entirety of Count 5 (which pertains to a request to the Richmond field office). On April 25, 1997, after additional filings from the Department, its summary judgment motion was granted in full. On June 18, 1997, Steinberg’s motion to amend that ruling was denied.

On July 14, 1997, a Memorandum and Order considered dispositive motions filed by both parties. These motions addressed Count 1 (pertaining to a request to re-exam[359]*359ine a file in FBI Headquarters); the remaining portion of Count 2 (pertaining to requests to field offices in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C., and Legal Attaches in Bogota and Rome); and Count 3 (pertaining to a request to FBI Headquarters for a duplicate of a Washington field office file). The Justice Department argued that it had complied fully with FOIA; Steinberg challenged both the sufficiency of the Department’s searches for documents and the Department’s claims that certain material was statutorily exempt from disclosure. The Memorandum and Order accepted the Department’s contention that its searches were adequate. Yet, it also directed the Department to submit additional filings to support its assertion of FOIA exemptions 1, 7(C), and 7(D). See 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(1), (b)(7)(C), (b)(7)(D). In response, the Justice Department filed a supplemental Vaughn index on October 24, 1997.

II.

Steinberg’s Second Cross-Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and his Second Motion for Leave to Take Discovery Pursuant to F.R.C.P. Rule 56(f) concern certain documents that the Justice Department referred to other government agencies for classification review. On January 24, 1997, the Justice Department filed original Vaughn declarations from Lee Strickland of the CIA and Gregorie W. Bujae of the State Department to support the nondisclosure of material referred to those agencies. (The Justice Department also filed a declaration from an official of the Defense Intelligence Agency, which concerns nondisclosures that Steinberg does not contest.) Since these declarations were filed well after the completion of briefing for summary judgment on Counts 1 through 3, the Court’s July 14, 1997 Memorandum and Order did not address Stein-berg’s concerns with them.

A.

Steinberg’s first objection, concerning a three page teletype, can be dismissed summarily. See 6th Steinberg Decl., Ex. 1 (serial 105-347013-1 in FBIHQ file, captioned “Andrei Sakharov; FCI-R (A); oo: Bureau,” released on 2/22/95); id., Ex. 2 (same, released on 4/10/95). The document was referred to the CIA, which had no objections to full disclosure. See Strickland Affi, ¶ 35, at 20. Steinberg speculates that another, unidentified agency classified portions of the text pursuant to Exemption 1. Since Federal Civil Procedure Rule 56(e) requires that affidavits in support of summary judgment “be made on personal knowledge,” Steinberg argues that the Justice Department must supply an affidavit from this unnamed agency to justify redactions from the text.

Steinberg’s speculation is unfounded. The supplemental Vaughn index — since filed on October 24, 1997 — offers the Justice Department’s first-hand explanation of Exemption 1 redactions in this document. See Davis Decl., ¶ 6, at 5; id., at 121. Moreover, Special Agent Robert Moran of the FBI has testified that the Justice Department did not refer documents to agencies other than the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and State Department. See 4th Moran Decl., ¶ 49, at 14. Consequently, there is no support for Steinberg’s belief that “another agency, not the FBI, made the classification determination” in this document. Mem. Opp. Def.’s 2d Mot. Summ. J. & Supp. Pl.’s 2d Cross-Mot. Partial Summ. J., at 4.1

B.

Next, Steinberg challenges the sufficiency of the Strickland Declaration, which indexes twelve documents referred to the CIA.2 He [360]*360argues that the declaration is excessively vague, relying on boilerplate explanations of FOIA exemptions rather than specific descriptions of material that was redacted. He also underscores several instances where the declaration inaccurately describes the documents, principally by misstating the number of pages in each.

To a large extent, his complaints are unfounded. The Strickland Declaration indexes only the twelve documents referred to the CIA, and discusses only the redactions within them that are identified in the Justice Department’s May 4, 1995 Vaughn index with the code “bl-OA” — i.e., withheld pursuant to FOIA Exemption 1, at the recommendation of another agency. Contrary to Steinberg’s claim, the justifications offered for these redactions are not boilerplate. Section two of the declaration correlates the “bl-OA” redactions from each document with specific rationales, explained in great depth in section one of the declaration. Given its subject-matter, the 23-page declaration is quite detailed. To the extent that the declaration contains some errors, moreover, Steinberg has not demonstrated how these factual discrepancies are material, and thereby demand additional filings from the government or defeat the Department’s motion for summary judgment.

In one respect, however, the Strickland Declaration is deficient.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hale v. United States Department of Justice
226 F.3d 1200 (Tenth Circuit, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
179 F.R.D. 357, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10165, 1998 WL 384018, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/steinberg-v-united-states-department-of-justice-dcd-1998.