America First Legal Foundation v. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia partially granted and partially denied cross-motions for summary judgment in a FOIA action concerning CDC records about COVID-19-related misinformation and disinformation on social media. The court upheld withholdings under FOIA Exemption 5 and upheld Exemption 4 withholdings concerning BrandLift materials, but held that CrowdTangle materials were not sufficiently commercial or confidential to qualify for Exemption 4 protection.

Holdings

1. The CDC properly withheld the challenged Exemption 5 materials because the meeting agendas and summaries were protected deliberative-process materials, and the plaintiff's allegations of unlawful or unauthorized agency conduct did not overcome the privilege.
2. The CDC properly withheld the challenged portions of the BrandLift reports under FOIA Exemption 4.
3. The CDC improperly withheld the CrowdTangle reports under Exemption 4 because it failed to establish that the reports were commercial information, confidential information, or information whose disclosure would cause foreseeable harm to an interest protected by the exemption.
4. Allegations that the government engaged in unlawful or unauthorized conduct do not create an exception to FOIA Exemption 4.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the CDC properly withheld meeting agendas and meeting-conclusion summaries under FOIA Exemption 5's deliberative-process privilege.
2. Whether the CDC properly withheld portions of Meta's BrandLift records under FOIA Exemption 4.
3. Whether the CDC properly withheld CrowdTangle reports under FOIA Exemption 4.
4. Whether allegations of unlawful or unauthorized agency conduct create a government-misconduct exception to FOIA Exemptions 4 or 5.

Disposition

other