Anthony Viola v. US Department of Justice
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed in Part
The Third Circuit reviewed Anthony Viola’s FOIA suit against DOJ components and a county mortgage-fraud task force. It affirmed dismissal of the task-force defendant for lack of personal jurisdiction and largely upheld the agencies’ searches, but it vacated portions of the summary judgment that approved several FOIA withholdings, sending the case back for further proceedings on those issues.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether the "risk of circumvention of the law" clause in FOIA Exemption 7(E) applies to both the "techniques-and-procedures" prong as well as the "guidelines" prong, or only to the guidelines prong.
Circuit Positions
Risk-of-circumvention showing required for BOTH prongs of Exemption 7(E).
Risk-of-circumvention showing required ONLY for the guidelines prong of Exemption 7(E).
Conflict Summary
The Third Circuit (following its prior decision in Davin) requires agencies to show that disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law for BOTH the techniques-and-procedures prong and the guidelines prong of Exemption 7(E). The Second, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits hold that the risk-of-circumvention showing is necessary only when an agency withholds investigative *guidelines*; no such showing is required for materials describing investigative techniques or procedures.