UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, INC., Plaintiffs, v. Case No. l:18-CV-2051-RCL U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES, Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION This case concerns a request that plaintiff Project on Government Oversight, Inc. ("POGO") made of defendant, the United States Department of Homeland Security ("DHS" or "the Department"), pursuant to the Freedom oflnformation Act ("FOIA"), Pub. L. No. 89-487, 80 Stat. 250 (1966), for certain information relating to the Department's civil rights and civil liberties inquiries from 2015 to the present. Before the Court are the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment, ECF Nos. 52 and 53. For the reasons that follow, Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment will be DENIED, and Plaintiffs' Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment will be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. I. BACKGROUND A. POGO's FOIA Request The FOIA request at issue concerns records of DHS's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties ("CRCL"), which supports DHS's mission while working to "preserv[e] individual liberty, fairness, and equality under the law," including through investigating complaints filed by 1 the public regarding Department policies, activities, or actions. Def.'s Statement of Undisputed Material Facts ,r 5, ECF No. 52-2 ("DSUMF"). POGO submitted two FOIA requests to DHS on June 1, 2018. The first request ("Request l") sought complaint data maintained by CRCL from January 1, 2015 through the present, including "summaries of complaints, the original text of the complaint, status of the complaint, corrective actions taken, etc." Letter, Nick Schwellenbach to DHS (June 1, 2018), Ex. E to Compl., ECF No. 1-5. The second request ("Request 2") sought "[a]ny records memorializing the findings of [CRCL] investigations ... or 'short form resolutions' , and records of notifications from CRCL to the Justice Department that involve complaints of state or local law enforcement agencies, acting under state law, that come to CRCL" from January 1, 2015 through the present. Letter, Nick Schwellenbach to DHS (June 1, 2018), Ex. G to Compl., ECF No. 1-7. POGO received an acknowledgment'letter for each request from DHS on June 4 and June 5, 2018, respectively. Compl. at ,r,r 28, 33. After 20 days from receipt of each request, DHS invoked a 10-day extension pursuant to 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.5( c) but failed to provide any documents by the extension expiration. Id. at ,r,r 29, 34, 37. B. Proceedings in this Court POGO filed the present action on August 31, 2018, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. On January 30, 2019, the CourtorderedDHS to produce a Vaughn index 1 and accompanying dispositive motion within 30 days. See Order, ECF No. 11. On the parties' joint motion, the Court vacated that deadline and approved a scheduling order whereby the parties would file a joint status report addressing the status of DHS's records production and responses and propose a schedule 1 A Vaughn index is a table, common in FOIA cases, "describing the withheld documents and explaining why the withheld information fell under the claimed …
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