Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca1-14-01011/USCOURTS-ca1-14-01011-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 895
Nature of Suit: Freedom of Information Act of 1974
Cause of Action: 

---

United States Court of Appeals

For the First Circuit

No. 14-1011

NEW HAMPSHIRE RIGHT TO LIFE,

Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,

Defendant, Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

 FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

[Hon. Joseph N. Laplante, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Torruella, Howard, and Kayatta,

Circuit Judges.

Michael J. Tierney, with whom Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, PLLC,

was on brief, for appellant.

Seth R. Aframe, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom

John P. Kacavas, United States Attorney, was on brief, for

appellee.

February 4, 2015

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 1 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
KAYATTA, Circuit Judge. In 2011, the Department of

Health and Human Services ("Department") awarded federal grant

funds directly to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England

("Planned Parenthood"). New Hampshire Right to Life ("Right to

Life") then filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act

("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552, and ultimately this lawsuit, seeking

documents related to the award of that federal grant. The

Department produced some documents, but withheld others, citing

FOIA exemptions for confidential commercial information, id.

§ 552(b)(4) (Exemption 4), and inter- or intra-agency memoranda,

id. § 552(b)(5) (Exemption 5). We affirm the district court's

ruling that the Department properly withheld the subject documents

under FOIA Exemptions 4 and 5.

I.Background

A. Direct Award Of Federal Grant To Planned Parenthood 

Prior to 2011, the Department historically awarded

Title X1 federal grants to New Hampshire, which in turn dispersed

a combination of federal and state funds through subgrants to

various entities. Title X federal grants "assist in the

establishment and operation of voluntary family planning projects

which . . . offer a broad range of acceptable and effective family

1

 Title X refers to Title X of the Public Health Services

Act, created by the Family Planning Services and Population

Research Act of 1970. Pub. L. 91–572, § 6(c), 84 Stat. 1504,

1506–08, codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 300--300a-6.

-2-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 2 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
planning methods and services (including natural family planning

methods, infertility services, and services for adolescents)." 42

U.S.C. § 300(a). Planned Parenthood historically received one of

these subgrants, including Title X federal funds, from New

Hampshire. As of July 1, 2011, Planned Parenthood operated clinics

in six different New Hampshire municipalities: Manchester, Derry,

Keene, Exeter, West Lebanon, and Claremont.

In June 2011, the New Hampshire Executive Council chose

not to award any subgrant to Planned Parenthood, expressing concern

that taxpayer funds were being used to subsidize abortions.2 New

Hampshire's decision meant that unless a new provider received the

funds, large portions of the state would no longer have access to

Title X services. In July 2011, the Department asked New Hampshire

for information on how it would ensure continued provision of Title

X services in areas previously served by Planned Parenthood. In

mid-August 2011, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human

Services informed the Department that they could not find a

replacement provider for those areas. New Hampshire then

relinquished what would have been Planned Parenthood's portion of

the federal funds.

The Department considered alternative options, including

bypassing New Hampshire's Executive Council, and directly awarding

2

 New Hampshire's Executive Council had this concern despite

the fact that Title X prohibits the use of its funds "in programs

where abortion is a method of family planning." 42 U.S.C. § 300a-6. 

-3-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 3 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
Title X funds to Planned Parenthood. On August 19, 2011, Marilyn

Keefe, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department's Office of

Population Affairs ("OPA"), signed a memorandum titled, "Sole

Source Justification for Replacement Grant in New Hampshire". This

memorandum "request[ed] approval [from the Department's Office of

the Assistant Secretary of Health ("OASH")] of a sole source

replacement grant to [Planned Parenthood] for a period of 16

months." The memorandum "noted an urgent need to reinstate

services in [the affected] areas with an experienced provider that

is familiar with the provision of Title X family planning services

and applicable laws . . . and has a history of successfully

providing services in this area of the state." The memorandum

explained that, upon approval of its recommendation, "[the OPA]

will reach out to the proposed replacement grantee to determine if

the organization is willing to take on this project as a directly

funded federal grantee." The memorandum also stated that "[t]he

Director of the OASH Grants Management Office has consulted with

the Office of the General Counsel, which has determined that the

use of the replacement grant process is legally justified in this

case." The OASH Executive Officer approved the OPA's

recommendation by countersigning the memorandum on that very same

day--August 19, 2011.

On September 1, 2011, Planned Parenthood applied for the

direct award grant. The Department then prepared a "Technical

-4-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 4 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
Review" document, evaluating Planned Parenthood's application. On

September 9, the Department announced, via its website, its intent

to directly issue a replacement grant to Planned Parenthood. On

September 13, the Department formally provided a Notice of Grant

Award to Planned Parenthood. The notice required Planned

Parenthood to submit to the Department, by December 15, 2011,

additional "institutional files" on "a variety of policies and

procedures[.]" Responding to this notice, Planned Parenthood

submitted its Manual of Medical Standards and Guidelines ("Manual")

as well as information on its fee schedule and personnel policies. 

B. Right To Life's FOIA Challenge And District Court Decision

On December 22, 2011, Right to Life filed a lawsuit under

the FOIA, seeking documents related to the Department's decision to

proceed with a direct award process, documents that Planned

Parenthood submitted as part of its grant application, and

documents related to the Department's decision to award that grant

to Planned Parenthood. After being sued, the Department released

more than 2,500 pages of documents. The Department determined that

some portions of the Manual were exempt from disclosure under the

FOIA, but intended to release the remainder, and so informed

Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood responded by arguing that

its entire Manual constituted confidential commercial information,

and thus was exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. See 5 U.S.C.

§ 552(b)(4). The Department rejected this argument. Planned

-5-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 5 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
Parenthood countered by commencing an action in district court,

seeking to enjoin the Department from releasing any portion of the

Manual.

The district court remanded the matter to the Department

to "reconsider its FOIA determination in light of additional

information provided by [Planned Parenthood] about specific

portions of the [M]anual, and produce a more comprehensive

explanation for any determination that portions of the [M]anual are

subject to disclosure despite [Planned Parenthood's] objections." 

Upon reconsideration, the Department decided to withhold or redact

additional portions of the Manual. The Department also continued

to withhold various other documents or portions of documents,

invoking FOIA Exemptions 4, 5, and 6. The Department gave Right to

Life a Vaughn Index, correlating withheld documents to particular

FOIA exemptions.3 Right to Life and the Department then filed

cross motions for summary judgment, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, to

determine whether the Department properly invoked these FOIA

exemptions.

3 A Vaughn index is "[a] comprehensive list of all documents

that the government wants to shield from disclosure in Freedom of

Information Act (FOIA) litigation, each document being accompanied

by a statement of justification for nondisclosure. . . . The name

derives from Vaughn v. R[osen], 484 F.2d 820 (D.C. Cir. 1973)."

Black's Law Dictionary 1693 (9th ed. 2009). A Vaughn index is

necessary in FOIA litigation, as "only the party opposing

disclosure will have access to all the facts." Church of

Scientology Int'l v. United States Dep't of Justice, 30 F.3d 224,

228 (1st Cir. 1994). 

-6-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 6 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
The district court partially granted and partially denied

both parties' motions for summary judgment. The district court

found that the "vast majority" of documents were properly withheld

under FOIA exemptions, but that the Department did not meet its

burden to justify withholding a few categories of documents. The

district court found that Exemption 4 applied to the Manual, the

letter describing the Manual's standards and guidelines, the Fees

and Collections Policies, and a document titled "Steps in

Establishing our Fee Schedule."

The district court found that Exemption 5 applied to an

e-mail chain between Department employees and attorneys relating to

the legality of the direct award process, an e-mail chain about the

rationale for the replacement grant's funding amount, and multiple

drafts of a public announcement of the Assistant Secretary's intent

to issue a replacement grant to Planned Parenthood. The district

court also found that the Department met its burden for invoking

the attorney-client and work product privileges, as recognized by

Exemption 5, for various documents.

Right to Life appeals, seeking disclosure of the

following documents that are either partially redacted or entirely

withheld: the Manual (Vaughn index category 38); a letter

describing the Manual (Vaughn index category 39); Planned

Parenthood's Fees and Collection Policies (Vaughn index category

37); "Steps to Establishing our Fee Schedule" document (Vaughn

-7-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 7 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
index category 35); and various internal Department communications

(Vaughn index categories 11, 15–16, 18–19, 23–25, 30, 33). [BB 19-

20, 22, 28-29, 31.]

II. Standard of Review

We review de novo the district court's determination that

the Department was entitled to summary judgment based on its Vaughn

index and affidavits. Carpenter v. United States Dep't of Justice,

470 F.3d 434, 437 (1st Cir. 2006). The government bears the burden

of demonstrating that a claimed exemption applies. Church of

Scientology Int'l v. United States Dep't of Justice, 30 F.3d 224,

228 (1st Cir. 1994).

III. Analysis

The FOIA obligates federal agencies to "make 'promptly

available' to any person, upon request, whatever 'records' the

agency possesses unless those 'records' fall within any of nine

listed exemptions." Id. (quoting 5 U.S.C. §§ 552(a)(3), (b)). The

FOIA's primary purpose is to "open agency action to the light of

public scrutiny", "ensur[ing] an informed citizenry, vital to the

functioning of a democratic society." Id. (internal quotation marks

and citations omitted). The FOIA is the legislative embodiment of

Justice Brandeis's famous adage, "[s]unlight is . . . the best of

disinfectants[.]" Louis D. Brandeis, Other People's Money 92

(Frederick A. Stokes Co. 1914); see also Aronson v. I.R.S., 973

F.2d 962, 966 (1st Cir. 1992) (noting that the FOIA's basic aim is

-8-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 8 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
"sunlight"). "The policy underlying [the] FOIA is thus one of

broad disclosure, and the government must supply any information

requested by any individual unless it determines that a specific

exemption, narrowly construed, applies." Church of Scientology, 30

F.3d at 228.

Here, the Department relies on FOIA Exemptions 4 and 5

only. Exemption 4 shields from disclosure "trade secrets and

commercial or financial information obtained from a person and

privileged or confidential." 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4). Exemption 5

shields from disclosure "inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums

or letters which would not be available by law to a party other

than an agency in litigation with the agency." Id. § 552(b)(5). 

As explained below, we hold that the Department met its burden to

show that Exemption 4 applies to Planned Parenthood's submitted

documents. We also hold that the Department met its burden to show

that Exemption 5 applies to its withheld internal documents.

A. Planned Parenthood Documents

The Department invokes Exemption 4 to prevent disclosing

portions of the Manual, a letter describing the Manual, the Fees

and Collections Policies, and a document titled "Steps in

Establishing our Fee Schedule." In order to properly invoke

Exemption 4, the Department must demonstrate that the information

-9-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 9 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
it seeks to protect is both commercial and confidential.4 See id.

§ 552(b)(4). The FOIA does not define the term "commercial," so

courts have given the term its ordinary meaning. See Pub. Citizen

Health Research Grp. v. Food & Drug Admin., 704 F.2d 1280, 1290

(D.C. Cir. 1983); Am. Airlines, Inc. v. Nat'l Mediation Bd., 588

F.2d 863, 870 (2d Cir. 1978) (noting that "commercial" in the FOIA

context "surely means pertaining or relating to or dealing with

commerce."). Commercial information is confidential if disclosure

is likely "(1) to impair the Government's ability to obtain

necessary information in the future; or (2) to cause substantial

harm to the competitive position of the person from whom the

information was obtained." 9 to 5 Org. for Women Office Workers v.

Board of Governors, 721 F.2d 1, 8 (1st Cir. 1983) (quoting Nat'l

Parks & Conservation Ass'n v. Morton, 498 F.2d 765, 770 (D.C. Cir.

1974) (footnote omitted)).5

4 The Department is not asserting that the submitted

information is financial or privileged under Exemption 4. We thus

focus only on whether the submitted information is commercial and

confidential. 

5 9 to 5 Org. expressly left open, as do we here, the

possibility that information can be confidential if disclosure

would harm interests other than the two interests identified in

Nat'l Parks. 9 to 5 Org., 721 F.2d at 9 (noting that "[i]f it can

be demonstrated with particularity that a specific private or

governmental interest will be harmed by the disclosure of

commercial or financial information, the Government should not be

precluded from invoking the protection of [E]xemption 4 merely

because the asserted interest is not precisely one of those two

identified in National Parks").

-10-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 10 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
Right to Life makes two arguments for why Exemption 4

does not apply to the requested information: (1) Planned

Parenthood, as a non-profit, cannot possess commercial information;

and (2) even if Planned Parenthood can possess commercial

information, disclosure of the requested information poses no

likelihood of substantial harm to Planned Parenthood's competitive

position.

1. Non-profits may possess commercial information.

Right to Life argues that because Planned Parenthood is

a non-profit organization, it cannot be said to possess commercial

information within the meaning of Exemption 4. We disagree. If

accepted, this argument would amount to a per se exclusion of nonprofit entities from protection under Exemption 4. Neither the

language of the statute nor common sense lean in Right to Life's

favor here. The term "commercial" as used in the statute modifies

"information" and not the entity supplying the information. See 5

U.S.C. § 552(b)(4). All sorts of non-profits--hospitals, colleges,

and even the National Football League--engage in commerce as that

term is ordinarily understood. How the tax code treats income from

that commerce is a separate issue that has no bearing on our

inquiry here. 

Apart from arguing that non-profits cannot possess

commercial information, Right to Life does not claim that the

-11-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 11 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
information in the documents is somehow not otherwise commercial.6

These documents--the Manual, the letter describing the Manual, the

fees and collections policies, and the "Steps in Establishing our

Fee Schedule" document--outline Planned Parenthood's operations and

fees. That is to say, they outline the amounts Planned Parenthood

charges customers for its services, and how it produces those

services for sale. These documents thus surely pertain or relate

to commerce as that term is ordinarily understood. See, e.g., Pub.

Citizen Health Research Grp., 704 F.2d at 1290.

2. The subject documents are confidential.

We turn now to the question of whether this undoubtedly

commercial information is also 'confidential' under FOIA Exemption

4. See 9 to 5 Org., 721 F.2d at 8; 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4). 

Commercial information is confidential under Exemption 4 if

disclosure is likely to either: (1) "impair the Government's

ability to obtain necessary information in the future"; or (2)

"cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person

from whom the information was obtained." 9 to 5 Org., 721 F.2d at

8 (quoting Nat'l Parks, 498 F.2d at 770). The Department is not

arguing the first prong. When evaluating the second prong, "the

6

 Right to Life does make a fall back argument that, even if

a non-profit can possess commercial information, information

tendered in order to get a federal grant (i.e., getting a check for

rendering services) is somehow per se non-commercial. But no

precedent supports such a claim. Nor can we see any reason why the

nature of the information somehow changes when supplied to get such

a grant. 

-12-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 12 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
court need not conduct a sophisticated economic analysis of the

likely effects of disclosure." Pub. Citizen Health Research Grp.,

704 F.2d at 1291. But "[c]onclusory or generalized allegations"

will not suffice. Id. Parties opposing disclosure need not

demonstrate actual competitive harm; instead, they need only show

actual competition and a likelihood of substantial competitive

injury in order to "bring [that] commercial information within the

realm of confidentiality." Id.; accord Sharkey v. Food & Drug

Admin., 250 F. App'x 284, 288 (11th Cir. 2007); Lion Raisins Inc.

v. United States Dep't of Agric., 354 F.3d 1072, 1079 (9th Cir.

2004); Utah v. United States Dep't of Interior, 256 F.3d 967, 970

(10th Cir. 2001); Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. United States

Dep't of Interior, No. 13 Civ. 942(PAE), 2014 WL 3871159, at *13

(S.D.N.Y. Aug. 5, 2014).

For the purposes of awarding the grant in 2011, both New

Hampshire and the Department determined that Planned Parenthood was

the only Title X provider in the region. Right to Life contends

that the Department cannot change positions and now argue against

disclosure on the ground that Planned Parenthood would likely face

substantial competitive harm.

Right to Life's view of actual competition is myopic,

focusing only on the ad-hoc, non-competitive grant process that

took place in 2011. The district court aptly noted that Planned

Parenthood faces plenty of competition from other entities for

-13-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 13 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
patients. Many of Planned Parenthood's services are also provided

by hospitals and health clinics. Further, the Title X grant

process in New Hampshire will be open to other bids in the future. 

Even in 2011, a potential competitor--the Manchester Community

Health Center--requested information from the Department about

applying for the same grant. Although Planned Parenthood

admittedly did not compete for the federal grant in 2011, it

certainly does face actual competitors--community health clinics--

in a number of different arenas, and in future Title X bids. This

satisfies the "actual competition" requirement. See, e.g., Utah,

256 F.3d at 970–71.

Having established that the documents contain commercial

information, and that Planned Parenthood faces actual competition

in a variety of contexts, we turn to the specific documents Right

to Life wants disclosed, and whether disclosure of those documents

would likely cause substantial competitive harm to Planned

Parenthood.7

The Manual, and thus the letter that describes it,

"provides a model for operating a family planning clinic and for

7 We gauge the risk of substantial harm to Planned

Parenthood's competitive position as of the time of the district

court decision. See, e.g., N.Y. Times Co. v. United States Dep't

of Justice, 756 F.3d 100, 110 n.8 (2nd Cir. 2014). Requiring an

agency to update its FOIA responses "based on post-response

occurrences could create an endless cycle of judicially mandated

reprocessing." Bonner v. United States Dep't of States, 921 F.2d

1148, 1152 (D.C. Cir. 1991).

-14-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 14 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
providing . . . services consistent with [Planned Parenthood's]

unique model of care." The National Medical Committee of Planned

Parenthood Federation of America developed the Manual, in

collaboration with local affiliate chapters, like the Northern New

England branch. Planned Parenthood treated these documents as

confidential information not generally available to the public. A

potential future competitor could take advantage of the

institutional knowledge contained in the Manual, and the letter

describing the Manual, to compete with Planned Parenthood for

patients, grants, or other funding. We therefore agree with the

district court that the Department met its burden for invoking

Exemption 4 for the Manual and Medical Standards, and the letter

containing descriptions of the same--Vaughn index categories 38 and

39.

The Fees and Collections Policies and the "Steps in

Establishing our Fee Schedule" documents contain information that

"identifies cost differentials between services, identifies all

services provided[,] and sets forth the fee scale." Planned

Parenthood treated these documents as confidential information not

generally available to the public. Pricing information like that

contained in these documents is undoubtedly valuable information

for competitors. Nor is there any suggestion that competitors have

access to this information (other than perhaps anecdotally and

incompletely). We thus agree with the district court that the

-15-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 15 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
Department met its burden for establishing a likelihood of

substantial competitive harm from the disclosure of Planned

Parenthood's "Steps in Establishing our Fee Schedule" document and

its Fees and Collections Policies--Vaughn index categories 35 and

37.8

B. Department Documents

Right to Life also seeks internal Department documents

that are withheld under Exemption 5. Exemption 5 shields documents

that are normally immune from civil discovery, including those

protected by the deliberative process and attorney-client

privileges. See Nat'l Labor Relations Bd. v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.,

421 U.S. 132, 149-55 (1975); see also Elec. Frontier Found. v.

United States Dep't of Justice, 739 F.3d 1, 7 (D.C. Cir. 2014)

(Exemption 5 applies "to documents that are predecisional and

deliberative, meaning they reflect advisory opinions,

recommendations, and deliberations comprising part of a process by

which governmental decisions and policies are formulated")

(quotations and citations omitted); Mead Data Central, Inc. v.

United States Dep't of Air Force, 566 F.2d 242, 252 (D.C. Cir.

1977) (Exemption 5 "is intended to protect the quality of agency

8

 The district court applied the lessened standard to

voluntary submissions, enunciated in Critical Mass Energy Project

v. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, 975 F.2d 871, 879 (D.C. Cir. 1992).

See New Hampshire Right to Life v. Dep't of Health and Human Serv.,

976 F.Supp.2d 43, 54 (D. N.H. Sept. 30, 2013). We decline at this

time to adopt that lessened standard for voluntary submissions.

-16-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 16 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
decision-making by preventing the disclosure requirement of the

FOIA from cutting off the flow of information to agency decisionmakers. Certainly this covers professional advice on legal

questions which bears on those decisions."). Exemption 5 protects

government "agencies from being 'forced to operate in a fishbowl.'" 

Id. (quoting Envtl. Prot. Agency v. Mink, 410 U.S. 73, 87 (1973)).

It facilitates government decision making by: (1) assuring

subordinates will feel free to provide uninhibited opinions,

(2) protecting against premature disclosure of proposed government

policies, and (3) preventing confusion among the public that may

result from releasing various rationales for agency action. 

Providence Journal Co. v. United States Dep't of Army, 981 F.2d

552, 557 (1st Cir. 1992)(quoting Coastal States Gas Corp. v. Dep't

of Energy, 617 F.2d 854, 866 (D.C. Cir. 1980)).

Right to Life advances two arguments for rejecting the

Department's reliance on Exemption 5: First, it argues that some

of the documents that are outside the scope of the attorney-client

privilege are also not predecisional as a matter of simple

chronology; and, second, it argues that the Department waived any

objection to producing the documents that reflect the opinions of

Department lawyers because the Department adopted the opinions of

legal counsel as policy of the Department. We address each

argument in turn.

-17-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 17 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
1. The withheld documents are all predecisional. 

To fit within Exemption 5, the Department must

demonstrate that the communications were both "predecisional" and

"deliberative." Providence Journal, 981 F.2d at 557 (internal

quotation omitted). Right to Life argues that the documents are

not deliberative only because they are not predecisional, so we

limit our inquiry to whether they are indeed predecisional. A

document is predecisional if the agency can: "(1) pinpoint the

specific agency decision to which the document correlates, (2)

establish that its author prepared the document for the purpose of

assisting the agency official charged with making the agency

decision, and (3) verify that the document precedes, in temporal

sequence, the decision to which it relates." Id. (internal

quotation marks and citations omitted). The dispute here centers

on the temporal sequence of Department documents and decisions, and

on identifying the decisions to which the particular documents

relate. The following chronology outlines the relevant decisional

timeline.

On August 8, 2011, there was an e-mail chain (Vaughn

index category 11) between Department employees and Office of

General Counsel attorneys regarding whether the Department could

legally issue a replacement grant. On August 9, Secretary Sebelius

was briefed on the issue. Subsequently, on August 10, the White

House was also briefed on this alternative plan. Right to Life

-18-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 18 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
asserts that this briefing constituted "approval from the White

House." Right to Life cites as evidence of White House "approval"

an informal e-mail stating, "[t]he WH was briefed and they are

getting down to pennies and nickels." On August 12, there was an

e-mail chain (Vaughn index category 15) discussing a draft document

regarding funding for the replacement grant. On August 18, there

was another e-mail chain addressing funding for the replacement

grant (Vaughn index category 18). Finally, on August 19, OASH's

executive officer signed a blank line indicating "Approve"

underneath the heading "Decision" on the Sole Source Justification

memorandum. 

On September 28, 2011, three out of five members of the

New Hampshire Executive Council filed a letter protesting the

Department's decision with the Government Accountability Office

("GAO"), carbon copying Kathleen Sebelius, Department Secretary. 

In a letter dated October 5, 2011, the GAO declined to review the

Executive Council members' protest for lack of jurisdiction. The

Department later decided not to provide its own response.

Right to Life contends that the decision to directly

award Title X funds to Planned Parenthood was made at the White

House briefing on August 10, 2011. If this were true, all

pertinent documents created after that date would be postdecisional, and thus not exempt from disclosure under Exemption 5.

See id. The record, however, does not support Right to Life's

-19-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 19 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
contention. On its face, the e-mail Right to Life cites as

evidence of White House approval indicates that a decision, while

perhaps close, had not yet been finalized. The phrase "getting

down to pennies and nickels" plainly suggests a pending decision,

not a final decision for Exemption 5 purposes. That leaves

August 19--the date the OASH executive signed the approval line on

the Sole Source Justification memorandum--as the date the decision

was made to proceed with a direct award process.9

 We therefore

reject Right to Life's argument that Vaughn index categories 15–16

and 18–19, all created prior to August 19 were post-decisional

documents.10

We turn next to the documents covered by Vaughn index

categories 23–25 and 33. All of these documents post-date the

August 19 decision to proceed with a non-competitive sole-source

grant process. Therefore, Right to Life argues, they are not predecisional. The problem with this argument is that there were

9 Throughout its brief, Right to Life touts the title of the

"Sole Source Justification" memorandum, and suggests that it

indicates that the substance of the memorandum itself is "a post

hoc justification of a decision that had been made several days

earlier." Read as a whole, the document's substance makes clear

that it is a recommendation letter, seeking approval from a

superior: "I recommend that you approve this request for a sole

source replacement grant to Planned Parenthood of Northern New

England."

10 Categories 16 and 19 are undated, but, given their content,

necessarily predate the August 19 decision. Category 16 covers

drafts of a rationale for the grant funding amount. Category 19

covers early drafts of the Sole Source Justification memorandum.

-20-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 20 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
other relevant decisions made on or after August 19, including: (1)

the Department's decision on September 9 to publicly announce its

intent to issue the grant award to Planned Parenthood, and (2) the

Department's decision to not provide a separate response to New

Hampshire's protest of that direct award. 

Vaughn index categories 23–25 relate to and pre-date the

September 9 public announcement that the Department intended to

directly award a grant to Planned Parenthood. These documents deal

with the Department's decision of how and what to communicate to

the public, which is a decision in and of itself. Vaughn index

categories 23–25 are not post-decisional. Right to Life simply

misidentifies the decision to which these documents relate. 

Similarly, the documents included in Vaughn index

category 33 involve communications between Department employees and

attorneys relating to whether the Department should also respond to

the New Hampshire Executive Council's protest. This e-mail chain

necessarily predates any decision by the Department to withhold a

separate response to the protest. We are satisfied that the

Department appropriately met its burden for withholding these

documents under Exemption 5.

2. The Department Did Not Waive Its Privileges By

Adopting Counsel's Legal Advice.

In responding to Right to Life's FOIA request, the

Department revealed that an attorney in the Office of General

Counsel had advised the Director of the OASH Grants Management

-21-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 21 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
Office that it was legal to issue a replacement grant. The

Department redacted any material that revealed the basis or

reasoning behind such advice. The Department never publicly

announced either the advice or the reasoning behind the advice. 

Nor does it rely on the advice in this litigation.

Right to Life advances a single argument for finding that

the Department must now produce the communication with OCG counsel. 

It claims that, by issuing the replacement grant, the Department

adopted counsel's advice as "policy of the Agency."11 

The record provides no factual support for this claim

unless one presumes that every time an agency acts in accord with

counsel's view it necessarily adopts counsel's view as "policy of

the Agency." As a categorical rule this makes no sense, especially

where counsel's legal advice is simply that there is no impediment

to the agency doing what it wants to do.

For precedent, Right to Life points only to Nat'l Labor

Relations Bd. v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 421 U.S. 132 (1975), and

Brennan Center v. United States Dep't of Justice, 697 F.3d 184 (2nd

Cir. 2012). Each of these opinions, however, hinged disclosure of

legal counsel's advice on whether the agency actually adopted the

reasoning behind counsel's opinion as its own. See Renegotation

Bd. v. Grumman Aircraft Eng'g Corp., 421 U.S. 168, 184–85 (1975)

11 Right to Life does not argue that the Department waived its

privilege by failing to redact from the Sole Source Justification

memorandum the short description of the conclusion of counsel.

-22-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 22 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
(companion case to Sears, holding that "[if] the evidence utterly

fails to support the conclusion that the reasoning in the reports

is adopted by the Board as its reasoning, even when it agrees with

the conclusion of a report, . . . the reports are not final

opinions and do fall within Exemption 5."); Brennan Center, 697

F.3d at 197 ("[T]he fact that the agencies acted in conformity with

the . . . memoranda [does not] establish that the agencies adopted

their reasoning."). Here, the Department never adopted, or even

mentioned, counsel's reasoning. 

"Mere reliance on a document's conclusions"--at most what

we have here--"does not necessarily involve reliance on a

document's analysis; both will ordinarily be needed before a court

may properly find adoption or incorporation by reference." National

Council of La Raza v. Dep't of Justice, 411 F.3d 350, 358 (2nd Cir.

2005); Elec. Frontier Found. v. United States Dep't of Justice, 739

F.3d 1, 10–11 (D.C. Cir. 2014) ("[T]he Court has refused to equate

reference to a report's conclusions with adoption of its reasoning,

and it is the latter that destroys the privilege.") 

It is a good thing that Government officials on

appropriate occasion confirm with legal counsel that what the

officials wish to do is legal. To hold that the Government must

turn over its communications with counsel whenever it acts in this

manner could well reduce the likelihood that advice will be sought. 

Nothing in the FOIA compels such a result. 

-23-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 23 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347
IV. Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court's

rulings. 

So ordered.

-24-

Case: 14-1011 Document: 00116795180 Page: 24 Date Filed: 02/04/2015 Entry ID: 5884347