Brennan Center for Justice v. United States Department of Justice

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• explaining that the attorney-client privilege protects communications between a client and his attorney that are confidential and “for the purpose of obtaining or providing legal assistance”
• noting that a document may be predecisional if its “contents confirm that the document was originated to facilitate an identifiable final agency decision” (emphasis added) (internal quotation marks omitted)
• equating \working law\ with \final opinions\ or reports that have \operative effect\
• \A party's reliance on an otherwise privileged communication to assert a claim or defense is similar to the type of express adoption or incorporation by reference that vitiates Exemption 5 protection\
• “Consistent with its purpose to promote honest and open government, and to assure the existence of an informed citizenry in order to hold the governors accountable to the governed, FOIA strongly favors a policy of disclosure.”
• “[A] document claimed to be exempt will be found outside Exemption 5 if it closely resembles that which FOIA affirmatively requires to be disclosed: ‘final opinions . . . made in the adjudication of cases[.]’”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).