UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW and CHARLES KURZMAN, Plaintiffs, Civil Action No. 18-1860 (RDM) v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION The Department of Justice (“the Department”) maintains a database that contains information about cases involving the 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices brought in federal courts, including cases categorized as “terrorism” cases. Dkt. 13-1 at 3–4 (Kornmeier Decl. ¶ 11); Dkt. 13-2 at 2 (Def.’s SUMF ¶ 7). The database distinguishes between types of terrorism cases—i.e., international terrorism, domestic terrorism, hoaxes, terrorist financing, export enforcement, and critical infrastructure protection—and it collects an array of other information, including the district court docket number for each case. Dkt. 13-1 at 2 (Kornmeier Decl. ¶ 4). The Department publishes much of this information online, although the online version of the database redacts the docket numbers. Id. at 3 (Kornmeier Decl. ¶ 6). In January 2018, Plaintiffs—the Brennan Center for Justice and Professor Charles Kurzman—sent a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, request to the Department’s Executive Office for United States Attorneys (“EOUSA”), seeking all records in the database relating to public terrorism cases, including the docket numbers. Dkt. 1-1 at 4. The Department responded but withheld the docket numbers for each case pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 6 and 7(C), Dkt. 13-1 at 5 (Kornmeier Decl. ¶ 21), both of which, with slight variations, protect against unwarranted invasions of personal privacy, see 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6), (b)(7)(C). Plaintiffs, in turn, brought this action challenging those withholdings. The question whether the Department’s decision to withhold the docket numbers comports with FOIA is now before the Court on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. Dkt. 13; Dkt. 16. As the Department observes, the “Court only needs to [decide] whether Exemption 7(C) was properly invoked because it is more protective than Exemption 6 and establishes a lower bar for withholding.” Dkt. 13 at 7. To resolve that question, the Court must determine, among other things, whether disclosure of the docket numbers “could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(C). That is, the Court must balance the public interest in disclosure against the privacy interests at stake. Drawing on two D.C. Circuit precedents—American Civil Liberties Union v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 655 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (“ACLU I”), and American Civil Liberties Union v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 750 F.3d 927 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (“ACLU II”)—the Court concludes that the balance tips in different directions depending on whether the docket numbers at issue relate to cases that resulted in convictions or to cases that resulted in acquittals or that were dismissed. In both circumstances, the public interest in disclosure is substantial. The weight of the criminal defendants’ privacy interests, however, differs. In cases that resulted in convictions, the defendants’ privacy interests are “not . . . much more” than de minimis. ACLU I, 655 F.3d at 12. In cases ...
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