Morton Memo FOIA Lawsuit Ends in a Draw: Judicial Watch v. DHS

"For all of the foregoing reasons, the Court shall GRANT-IN-PART and DENY-IN-PART DHS’s Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment and GRANT-IN-PART and DENY-IN-PART Judicial Watch’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. Specifically, the Court shall grant DHS’s motion insofar as it seeks a ruling that it has lawfully withheld information from the challenged documents pursuant to the deliberative process privilege. The Court also grant’s DHS’s motion insofar as it seeks a ruling that the information redacted from the middle of DHS0034 and the information redacted from the bottom of DHS0053 was lawfully withheld pursuant to the work-product doctrine. DHS’s motion is otherwise denied. Correspondingly, the Court grants Judicial Watch’s motion insofar as it seeks an order compelling DHS to disclose to it all information withheld on the basis of the work-product doctrine from DSH0010; DHS0031-0035 (with the exception of information redacted from the document pursuant to the deliberative process privilege and information redacted from the middle of DHS0034, which was lawfully withheld pursuant to the work-product doctrine); DHS0053-0054 (with the exception of information redacted from the document pursuant to the deliberative process privilege and information redacted from the bottom of DHS0053, which was lawfully withheld pursuant to the work-product doctrine); DHS0058-0059; and DHS0062. The Court also grants Judicial Watch’s motion insofar as it seeks an order compelling DHS to disclose to Judicial Watch all information withheld on the basis of the attorney-client privilege from DHS0010, DHS0031-0035, DHS0058-0059, and DHS0062, insofar as that information is not otherwise protected by DHS’s lawful assertions of the deliberative process and work-product privileges. Judicial Watch’s motion is otherwise denied. Because no factual disputes exist, and all legal disputes have been resolved by the Court, this case is hereby dismissed." - Judicial Watch v. DHS, Feb. 28, 2013.