RICHARD J. LEON, District Judge.
Plaintiff Life Extension Foundation ("Foundation" or "plaintiff") brings this
Plaintiff is a public charitable organization, recognized under 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3), that supports and furthers scientific research. Compl. ¶ 4, ECF No. 1. On July 21, 2011, plaintiff submitted a FOIA request to the IRS for "the examination file with regard to the recent examination conducted by agents from the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Examination Division in Independence, MO for taxable years 2006, 2007, and 2008." Id. ¶ 7. In its request, the Foundation specifically excluded "copies of documents submitted by the [plaintiff]" and "documents previously provided by the IRS agent to the [plaintiff]" from its FOIA inquiry. Id., Ex. 1 at 1.
After multiple requests for an extension of the response date, the IRS responded to the Foundation's FOIA request on November 10, 2011. Id. ¶¶ 8, 11-13. In its letter, the IRS stated that although it had identified 329 pages that were responsive to the Foundation's FOIA request, it was only providing the charitable organization with 232 of those pages, and withholding 8 pages in part and 97 pages in full under FOIA exemptions 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3) ("Exemption 3"), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5) ("Exemption 5") and 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(D) ("Exemption 7D"). Id. ¶ 14. On December 8, 2011, plaintiff formally appealed the IRS's decision to the office of IRS Appeals. Id. ¶ 16. When the Foundation's appeal was denied on January 20, 2012, the IRS asserted additional FOIA exemptions under Exemption 3, in conjunction with 26 U.S.C. § 6103(b)(2) and 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(E) ("Exemption 7E"), to withhold the requested documents. Id. ¶ 17.
One month later, on February 17, 2012, plaintiff filed a complaint in this Court, seeking an order to compel disclosure of the requested 97 pages of withheld records in their entireties, as well as an order to conduct another search for additional responsive records. See generally id. Although the IRS filed a partial motion to dismiss on April 27, 2012, the parties entered into a Consent Order resolving that motion on May 25, 2012. See Def.'s Partial Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 5; Consent Order, ECF No. 8. In that Order, the plaintiff's requests for an IRS search for additional responsive records and for "expeditious proceedings" were dismissed without prejudice. Id. at 1.
On July 16, 2012, the IRS moved for summary judgment, contending that it properly withheld the records at issue under exemptions to FOIA. See Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. ("Def.'s Mot.") at 1, ECF No. 11. The IRS supported its motion with two affidavits, one from an IRS Disclosure Specialist responsible for FOIA requests and the other from an attorney in the IRS's Office of Chief Counsel. See Decl. of Stephen Danish ("Danish Decl."), ECF No. 11-4; Decl. of Carlton W. King ("King Decl."), ECF No. 11-3. The IRS also submitted additional declarations, in camera, in support of its Motion for Summary Judgment. See Def.'s Notice of In Camera Submission ("Def.'s In Camera
Both parties have moved for summary judgment. FOIA cases, of course, are "typically and appropriately" decided on motions for summary judgment. Defenders of Wildlife v. U.S. Border Patrol, 623 F.Supp.2d 83, 87 (D.D.C.2009). Indeed, "[w]hen assessing a motion for summary judgment under FOIA, the Court shall determine the matter de novo." Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 598 F.Supp.2d 93, 95 (D.D.C.2009) (citing 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B)).
Summary judgment is appropriate when the record demonstrates that there is no genuine issue of material fact in dispute and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(a). With respect to an agency's non-disclosure decisions in a FOIA action, the court may rely on affidavits or declarations if they describe "the justifications for nondisclosure with reasonably specific detail, demonstrate that the information withheld logically falls within the claimed exemption, and are not controverted by either contrary evidence in the record nor by evidence of agency bad faith." Military Audit Project v. Casey, 656 F.2d 724, 738 (D.C.Cir.1981); see also SafeCard Servs., Inc. v. SEC, 926 F.2d 1197, 1200 (D.C.Cir.1991) (affidavits and declarations are "accorded a presumption of good faith, which cannot be rebutted by purely speculative claims about the existence and discoverability of other documents") (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
"Ultimately, an agency's justification for invoking a FOIA exemption is sufficient if it appears `logical' or `plausible.'" Larson v. Dep't of State, 565 F.3d 857, 862 (D.C.Cir.2009) (quoting Wolf v. CIA, 473 F.3d 370, 374-75 (D.C.Cir.2007)). In assessing the logic and plausibility of an agency assertion of an exemption, "reviewing courts [should] respect the expertise of an agency" and avoid "overstep[ping] the proper limits of the judicial role in FOIA review." Hayden v. NSA, 608 F.2d 1381, 1388 (D.C.Cir.1979); see also Military Audit Project, 656 F.2d at 753; Halperin v. CIA, 629 F.2d 144, 148 & n. 20 (D.C.Cir.1980).
In its complaint, the plaintiff requests that this Court order the IRS to release the 97 pages of records from the examination file that were withheld in full in 2011. See generally Compl. However, due to a calculation error and the release of some previously-withheld documents, the number of responsive pages that the IRS continues to withhold in full under FOIA, and are at issue in this case, is 67 pages of records.
More specifically, of the initial 329 page total that the IRS indicated was responsive to plaintiff's FOIA request, only 306 had indeed been found responsive by Stephen Danish ("Danish"), an IRS Disclosure
In addition, during the course of litigation, the IRS has released 8 additional pages, in full, that were previously withheld from the plaintiff.
The IRS contends that the withheld documents are exempt from disclosure under FOIA Exemptions 3, 5, and 7(D). Def.'s Brief in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. ("Def.'s Mem.") at 8-9, ECF No. 11-1. The plaintiff challenges these claimed exemptions, asserting that the IRS has failed to provide sufficient information regarding their applicability to the withheld documents and that this court should review the withheld documents in camera to determine whether the IRS's representations are truthful and the documents indeed qualify for exemption.
Exemption 3 permits an agency to prevent the release of records that are "specifically exempted from disclosure by statute." 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3). In determining the applicability of Exemption 3, "the sole issue for decision is the existence of a relevant statute and the inclusion of withheld material within that statute's coverage." Goland v. CIA, 607 F.2d 339, 350 (D.C.Cir.1978); see Krikorian v. Dep't of State, 984 F.2d 461, 465 (D.C.Cir.1993); Ass'n of Retired R.R. Workers, Inc. v. U.S.R.R. Ret. Bd., 830 F.2d 331, 336 (D.C.Cir.1987).
Under Exemption 3, the IRS seeks to withhold 4 pages (pgs. 150 to 153), in full, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6103(a). King Decl. ¶ 13(b). This statute provides that tax "[r]eturns and return information shall be confidential," and "no officer or employee of the United States ... shall disclose any [tax] return or return information obtained by him in any manner in connection with his service." 26 U.S.C. § 6103(a); see Tax Analysts v. IRS, 410 F.3d 715, 718 (D.C.Cir.2005) ("Tax returns and return information remain confidential except where provided to the contrary."). "Return information" is defined broadly by the statute to include almost any information compiled by the IRS in connection with its determination of a taxpayer's liability for tax, interest, penalties, or civil or criminal offenses. 26 U.S.C. § 6103(b)(2)(A).
Carlton King, an attorney in the IRS's Office of Chief Counsel, attests that the 4 pages withheld by the IRS "consist of parts of the actual returns of taxpayers other than [p]laintiff," and that "none of the provisions of the Code authorize the release of this information to plaintiff."
FOIA Exemption 5 protects from disclosure inter-agency or intra-agency letters or memoranda "which would not be available by law to a party ... in litigation with the agency." 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5). To qualify for this exemption, a document "must fall within the ambit of a privilege against discovery under judicial standards that would govern litigation against the agency that holds it." Dep't of the Interior v. Klamath Water Users Protective Ass'n, 532 U.S. 1, 8, 121 S.Ct. 1060, 149 L.Ed.2d 87 (2001). Courts have incorporated
The deliberative process privilege exempts from disclosure those documents that contain deliberations comprising part of a process by which governmental decisions and policies are made. Klamath Water Users, 532 U.S. at 8, 121 S.Ct. 1060. Accordingly, government materials that are both "predecisional" and "deliberative" are shielded by the privilege. Tax Analysts v. IRS, 117 F.3d 607, 616 (D.C.Cir.1997); see also Vaughn v. Rosen, 523 F.2d 1136, 1143-44 (D.C.Cir.1975) (noting that a document is "deliberative" if it "makes recommendations or expresses opinions on legal or policy matters"); Petroleum Info. Corp. v. Dep't of the Interior, 976 F.2d 1429, 1434 (D.C.Cir.1992) ("A document is predecisional if it was prepared in order to assist an agency decisionmaker in arriving at his decision, rather than to support a decision already made.") (internal quotation marks omitted). "[T]he ultimate purpose of this long-recognized [deliberative process] privilege is to prevent injury to the quality of agency decisions" as well as to encourage "the frank discussion of legal and policy issues" by ensuring that agencies are not "forced to operate in a fishbowl." Sears, 421 U.S. at 151, 95 S.Ct. 1504; Mapother v. DOJ, 3 F.3d 1533, 1537 (D.C.Cir.1993); Wolfe v. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 839 F.2d 768, 773 (D.C.Cir.1988) (en banc).
In this case, the IRS withholds 52 responsive pages, in full, under the deliberative process privilege because these records "contain opinions, analyses, advice, thought processes, strategies, and recommendations generated during the course of the IRS's consideration of the appropriate course of action to take regarding the examination of [p]laintiff['s] [tax exempt status]." King Decl. ¶ 15. In his declaration, King explains that the withheld 52 pages are composed of two documents: (1) a 45-page Routing and Transmittal Slip, from attorney for IRS's Tax Exempt and Government Entities office ("TEGE") Donna Mayfield Palmer to IRS Agent James Brophy, which is attached to a draft of a Form 886A, Explanation of Items (pgs. 285 to 329); and (2) a 7-page memorandum of legal advice from Acting Gulf Area Counsel for TEGE Mark L. Hulse to Brophy (pgs. 278 to 284). King Decl. ¶¶ 14(a)-(b). King asserts that the Form 886A was composed in draft by the IRS, contains extensive edits and comments that reflect opinions and advice from IRS's Office of Chief Counsel to the IRS, and was created to evaluate whether the plaintiff was operating exclusively for exempt purposes. Id. ¶¶ 14(b), 16. In addition, the 7-page memorandum, King explains, is "explicit legal advice" from Counsel for TEGE to its client, the IRS, and discusses potential action regarding the plaintiff and its tax exempt status. Id. ¶¶ 14(a), 16. As such, the disclosure of these materials "would expose the decision making processes of the IRS, including [the Office of Chief] Counsel, in such a way that it might discourage candid discussion within the IRS or with the Department of the Treasury
It is apparent that both the 45-page marked-up Form 886A and 7-page memorandum are predecisional and deliberative in nature, and thus subject to the deliberative process privilege. Both documents, as clearly and sufficiently described in King's declaration, despite plaintiff's arguments to the contrary, contain inter-agency material that was generated as part of a continuous process of agency decision-making, namely what determination the IRS should make with regard to plaintiff's tax-exempt status. Id. The King declaration explains that both materials contain "personal opinions, analyses, thought processes, strategies, and recommendations of the writers concerning the proposed revocation of [p]laintiff's tax-exempt status," before any final determination was made, including "discussions of [p]laintiff's activities, publicity materials, fee structure for members, and its relationship with affiliate entities." Id. ("These materials reflect `the give and take' of the agency's consultative, deliberative processes."). In addition, the King declaration clearly explains the reasons why disclosure would harm the decision-making process. Id. The law of our Circuit is clear that under such circumstances, the draft Form 886A and legal memorandum are appropriately exempt from disclosure pursuant to Exemption (b)(5).
Plaintiff argues that "[t]here is no discussion of segregability" on the part of the IRS as to the marked-up Form 886A
It is well established that an agency claiming that a document is exempt under FOIA must, after excising the exempted information, release any reasonably segregable information unless the non-exempt information is inextricably intertwined with the exempt information. Trans-Pac. Policing Agreement v. U.S. Customs Serv., 177 F.3d 1022, 1026-27 (D.C.Cir.1999). A "blanket declaration" that materials do not contain segregable information is insufficient. Wilderness Soc'y v. U.S. Dep't of Interior, 344 F.Supp.2d 1, 19 (D.D.C.2004). Rather, an "agency must provide a detailed justification for its non-segregability" to demonstrate that "all reasonably segregable material has been released." Johnson v. Exec. Office for U.S. Attorneys, 310 F.3d 771, 776 (D.C.Cir.2002) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
Here, the IRS's supporting declarations provide sufficient descriptions of the contents of the withheld documents, as well as the specific pages affected by each exemption claim, and make clear that all withheld documents were reviewed line-by-line to identify reasonably segregable material. For instance, the justification for the IRS's partial withholding of 4 documents under the deliberative process privilege goes through the record page-by-page, stating:
King Decl. ¶ 14(c).
In the absence of contrary evidence or specific cites to potentially unsegregated portions, the declarations are afforded the presumption of good faith. See SafeCard Servs., 926 F.2d at 1200. This showing is thus sufficient to allow the Court to determine that no portion of the fully-withheld documents could be segregated and subsequently released. See Johnson, 310 F.3d at 776 (in demonstrating that all reasonably segregable material has been released, "the agency is not required to provide so much detail that the exempt material would be effectively disclosed"); Armstrong v. Exec. Office of the President, 97 F.3d 575, 578 (D.C.Cir.1996) (where the government affidavits show
Because all of the information withheld pursuant to the attorney-client privilege was also withheld pursuant to the deliberative process privilege, I do not need to consider the propriety of the defendant's application of the attorney-client privilege.
Withholding 11 pages (pages 267 to 277), in full, under Exemptions 3 and 7(D), the IRS argues that these materials are exempt "because their disclosure could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source or sources" as well as "seriously impair federal tax administration." King Decl. ¶ 17. Plaintiff contends that the IRS's declarations are too generalized to provide the plaintiff, or this court, with adequate information to evaluate the IRS's decision to withhold the documents, and that summary judgment is inappropriate until in camera review of the withheld documents is performed. Pl.'s Mem. at 12-13, 16-17.
As previously explained, Exemption 3 of FOIA incorporates nondisclosure protections established in other federal statutes, see generally 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3), and it is well-established that 26 U.S.C. § 6103 provides particular criteria for withholding information. Accordingly, § 6103(e)(7) states that "[r]eturn information with respect to any taxpayer may be open to inspection by or disclosure to any [authorized] person" if it is determined that "such disclosure would not seriously impair [f]ederal tax administration." Although phrased as a permissive statute, rather than a prohibitive one, the IRS argues that § 6103(e)(7) can be interpreted to ban the disclosure of return information that would seriously impair federal tax administration. Def.'s Mem. at 19.
Exemption 7(D) protects from disclosure "records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes" that "could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source ... [who] furnished information on a confidential basis." 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(D). "A source is confidential within the meaning of [E]xemption 7(D) if the source provided information under an express assurance of confidentiality or in circumstances from which such an assurance could be reasonably inferred." Williams v. FBI, 69 F.3d 1155, 1159 (D.C.Cir.1995) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The court may consider a number of factors in determining whether a source's communication should be treated as confidential, "including notations on the face of a withheld document, the personal knowledge of an official familiar with the source, a statement by the source, or contemporaneous documents discussing practices or policies for dealing with the source or similarly situated sources." Campbell v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 164 F.3d 20, 34 (D.C.Cir.1998). Of all of FOIA's law enforcement exemptions, it is well known that Exemption 7(D) affords the most comprehensive protection. See Billington v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 301 F.Supp.2d 15, 22 (D.D.C.2004); Voinche v. FBI, 940 F.Supp. 323, 331 (D.D.C.1996).
The IRS submitted in camera declarations to support its withholding of this group of 11 pages due to "the nature of the documents withheld" as well as the "nature of [its] assertions" under FOIA
After reviewing the IRS's in camera declarations, the Court finds that the agency has properly invoked Exemptions 3 and 7(D) with respect to pages 267 to 277. First, the Court is satisfied that, on the basis of detailed in camera declarations, disclosure of these materials would impair the collection, assessment, or enforcement of the tax laws under Exemption 3. Indeed, an individual who has delegated authority to make such a determination under 26 U.S.C. § 6103(e)(7) attests via in camera declaration that releasing the particular pages at issue would seriously impair federal tax administration. See Def.'s In Camera Sub.
Second, the in camera declarations contain ample descriptions of the 11 pages withheld by the IRS, and explain why each of the pages cannot be further considered on the public record without revealing material that the IRS seeks to withhold from public disclosure. Id. Sufficient for Exemption 7(D) purposes, the detailed in camera submissions from the IRS confirm that the withheld documents are part of an investigatory record compiled for law enforcement purposes, that sources supplied the information under circumstances which indicate assurances of confidentiality, and that disclosure of any portion of the document would reveal the identity of confidential sources. Id. In other words, the court is satisfied that the sources provided information under at least an implied promise of confidentiality, and that disclosure of this information via the release of these 11 pages, which contains identifying information throughout, could reasonably be expected to disclose their identities. See Billington, 301 F.Supp.2d at 22 (based on in camera declarations, concluding that the government properly withheld a six-page memorandum that implicated a government informant under Exemption 7(D)). Accordingly, I find that the information contained within pages 267 to 277 is exempt from disclosure under Exemptions 3 and 7(D).
Plaintiff has requested in camera review of documents withheld pursuant to Exemption 5 and Exemption 3, in conjunction with 26 U.S.C. §§ 6103(a) and (e)(7). District courts need not and should not make in camera inspections, however, where the government has sustained its burden of proof on the claimed FOIA exemption. See, e.g., ACLU v. U.S. Dep't of Def., 628 F.3d 612, 626 (D.C.Cir.2011) (when an agency's declarations "provide specific information sufficient to place the documents within the exemption category, and if there is no evidence in the record of agency bad faith, then summary judgment is appropriate without in camera review")
For the reasons discussed above, the IRS has met its burden to prove that the withheld documents are totally exempt. Therefore, this Court has an adequate factual basis to make its determination and need not examine the disputed documents in order to determine their exempt status.
For all of the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS the defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. #11] and DENIES plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. # 14]. An Order consistent with this decision accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.