Opinion ID: 375887
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: exemption 6 issue

Text: 43 The Government claims on appeal that some portions of the Senators' responses to the Department questionnaire may be within FOIA Exemption 6, for personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, 38 and that the Government should be allowed to raise this exemption upon remand to the district court. The Government did not raise Exemption 6, however, in the original proceedings before the district court. 38a This court has held that an agency must identify the specific statutory exemptions relied upon, and do so at least by the time of the district court proceedings. 39 This the Government has failed to do. The danger of permitting the Government to raise its FOIA exemption claims one at a time, at different stages of a district court proceeding, is especially apparent in this case, where any delay through this means could easily render the appellants' claim futile. We therefore hold, in accordance with our en banc decision in Jordan v. U. S. Department of Justice, that the Government may not raise FOIA Exemption 6 upon remand to the district court. 44 As we have noted in Jordan, there is a possible exception to this disqualification, under 28 U.S.C. § 2106, in that the appellate court has discretion to remand the case and  'require such further proceedings to be had as may be just under the circumstances.'  40 This could happen in the present case if sensitive, personal private information might be revealed. The Government may of course raise such a claim if warranted at the district court, but only if it can show extraordinary circumstances. On the present record, the need to claim such extraordinary circumstances is diminished by the likelihood that sensitive material bearing on a potential nominee will be intertwined with advice based on his qualifications and experience, and thus come within Exemption 5.