Opinion ID: 202549
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Vaughn Index and Segregation

Text: 11 To provide for the broadest possible disclosure and further the adversary process, courts often require the withholding agency to provide a Vaughn index. 13 Church of Scientology Int'l, 30 F.3d at 228; Providence Journal Co., 981 F.2d at 556. Generally, a Vaughn index provides a broad description of the requested material or information, and the agency's reason for withholding each document or portion of a document. See Church of Scientology Int'l, 30 F.3d at 228. Nonetheless, a more detailed statement of the requested materials may not be necessary where the statement would reveal the very information sought to be protected. See Maynard, 986 F.2d at 557. 12 The Vaughn index provided to the plaintiff and the court in this case consisted of a declaration by John F. Boseker (Boseker declaration), an Attorney Adviser in the Executive Office for the United States Attorneys, United States Department of Justice. The Boseker declaration set forth the Government's Glomar response, asserted that the requested documents were not required to be disclosed under Exemption 7(C) and provided that there were no reasonably segregable portions of the materials. Because Carpenter failed to assert a cognizable public interest, the government was not obligated to provide additional detail. See id. Even if Carpenter had asserted a valid public interest, the appropriate method for a detailed evaluation of the competing interests would have been through an in camera review because a standard Vaughn index might result in disclosure of the very information that the government attempted to protect. Id. (When, as here, the agency, for good reason, does not furnish publicly the kind of detail required for a satisfactory Vaughn index, a district court may review documents in camera. ). 13 The FOIA further mandates that any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be provided to any person requesting such records after deletion of the portions which are exempt under [section 552(b)]. 5 U.S.C. § 552(b). Non-exempt information or materials may be withheld only where it is so interspersed with exempt material that separation by the agency, and policing of this by the courts would impose an inordinate burden. Church of Scientology Int'l, 30 F.3d at 228 (quoting Wightman v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, 755 F.2d 979, 983 (1st Cir. 1985)). The district court, in deciding that the materials were exempt from disclosure, failed to make an express finding that no part of the requested documents were non-exempt and segregable from exempt portions. 14 Nonetheless, the Court is satisfied that the in camera afforded the district court the opportunity to perform a review of the documents in light of the asserted exemptions and make the required determinations regarding segregation. See Church of Scientology Int'l, 30 F.3d at 233. Further, having reviewed the documents, we find that there are no reasonably segregable portions.