UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AMERICA FIRST LEGAL FOUNDATION, Plaintiff, Civil Action No. 22-3029 (BAH) v. Judge Beryl A. Howell U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, et al. Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff, America First Legal Foundation, challenges the response of defendants, fourteen federal agencies, to its June 10, 2022 requests submitted pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, for the strategic plans each had prepared in response to an Executive Order regarding promoting access to voting. See generally Compl., ECF No. 1. The Executive Order instructed each agency to prepare such a plan evaluating ways in which the agency could promote voter registration and participation, and to submit the plan to the White House for consideration. Upon receiving plaintiff’s FOIA requests, defendant agencies concluded that the strategic plans were exempt from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 5, as they were covered by the presidential communications privilege. Defendants have now moved for summary judgment. Defs.’ Mot. Summ. J., ECF No. 21. For the reasons set forth below, defendants’ motion is granted. I. BACKGROUND Pertinent background underlying plaintiff’s FOIA requests is briefly described, followed by review of the requests and each federal agency defendant’s response thereto, both before and after initiation of this lawsuit. 1 A. President Biden’s Executive Order 14019 In early 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14019, Exec. Order No. 14,019, Promoting Access to Voting, 86 Fed. Reg. 13623 (Mar. 7, 2021) (“EO 14019”). The Order tasked federal agencies with “consider[ing] ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.” Id. at 13623. To that end, the head of each federal agency was to “evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation.” Id. Specifically, each agency was asked to consider ways that it can “provide relevant information . . . about how to register to vote, how to request a vote-by-mail ballot, and how to cast a ballot in upcoming elections,” “facilitate seamless transition from agencies’ websites directly to State online voter registration systems or appropriate Federal websites,” “provide access to voter registration services and vote-by-mail ballot application,” “promote and expand access to multilingual voter registration and election information,” and “promote equal participation in the electoral process for all eligible citizens of all backgrounds.” Id. at 13623– 24. The Order required each agency to submit to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, within 200 days of the Order’s issuance, “a strategic plan outlining the ways identified . . . that the agency can promote voter registration and voter participation.” Id. at 13624. As instructed by EO 14019, the fourteen agencies named as defendants in this case— namely, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), U.S. Department of Education (“ED”), U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), U.S. Department of the Interior (“DOI”), …
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