Opinion ID: 720526
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Criteria

Text: 16 FOIA directs trial courts to review de novo the applicability of the particular exemptions cited by the agency to the withheld documents. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B). In 1974, Congress amended FOIA in order to provide district courts with the explicit authority to conduct in camera review of agency files to determine the applicability of the claimed exemptions. See id. (courts may examine the contents of such agency records in camera). The Conference Report on the authorizing amendment states: 17 While in camera examination need not be automatic, in many situations it will plainly be necessary and appropriate. Before the court orders in camera inspection, the Government should be given the opportunity to establish by means of testimony or detailed affidavits that the documents are clearly exempt from disclosure. 18 S. Conf. Rep. No. 1200, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. 9 (1974), reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6267, 6287. In keeping with this directive, agencies customarily submit affidavits to establish the applicability of the asserted exemptions. 19 In some cases, the affidavits provide a sufficient basis for granting summary judgment in favor of the Government without an in camera review of the withheld documents. As we stated in Hayden v. National Security Agency/Central Security Service, 608 F.2d 1381 (D.C.Cir.1979), however, 20 the affidavits must show, with reasonable specificity, why the documents fall within the exemption. The affidavits will not suffice if the agency's claims are conclusory, merely reciting statutory standards, or if they are too vague or sweeping. If the affidavits provide specific information sufficient to place the documents within the exemption category, if this information is not contradicted in the record, and if there is no evidence in the record of agency bad faith, then summary judgment is appropriate without in camera review of the documents. 21 Id. at 1387. The decision to conduct an in camera review is committed to the  'broad discretion of the trial court judge.'  Lam Lek Chong v. DEA, 929 F.2d 729, 735 (D.C.Cir.1991) (quoting Carter v. Department of Commerce, 830 F.2d 388, 392 (D.C.Cir.1987)). See also NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214, 224, 98 S.Ct. 2311, 2318, 57 L.Ed.2d 159 (1978) ([t]he in camera [318 U.S.App.D.C. 234] review provision is discretionary by its terms). 22 The principal benefit of an in camera inspection is that it enables the trial court to make a case-specific determination; the costs include the possibly onerous burden imposed upon the trial court and the fact that a decision based on an in camera review may have little precedential value because it is unable to describe with specificity the basis for its decision. See generally Ronald M. Levin, Note, In Camera Inspections Under the Freedom of Information Act, 41 U.Chi. L.Rev. 557, 558-61 (1974). In addition, in camera review deprives the FOIA requester of an opportunity to present his interpretation of the withheld documents. See id. at 559; but see Ray v. Turner, 587 F.2d 1187, 1212 (D.C.Cir.1978) (Wright, C.J., concurring) (arguing that ex parte in camera inspections actually increase the adversariness of a FOIA proceeding). Accordingly, an in camera review should not be resorted to as a matter of course, simply on the theory that it can't hurt. See Ray, 587 F.2d at 1195. 23 While we do not intend to cramp the trial court's broad discretion in this area, we have repeatedly noted that in camera review may be particularly appropriate when either the agency affidavits are insufficiently detailed to permit meaningful review of exemption claims or there is evidence of bad faith on the part of the agency. Lam Lek Chong, 929 F.2d at 735; Carter, 830 F.2d at 392-93; Meeropol v. Meese, 790 F.2d 942, 958 (D.C.Cir.1986); Lesar v. Department of Justice, 636 F.2d 472, 481 (D.C.Cir.1980); cf. Allen v. Central Intelligence Agency, 636 F.2d 1287, 1298 (D.C.Cir.1980), rev'd on other grounds, Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, D.C., Inc. v. Smith, 721 F.2d 828 (D.C.Cir. 1983). Another crude, albeit important, factor to be considered is the number of the withheld documents. See Carter, 830 F.2d at 393 (when the requested documents 'are few in number and of short length,' in camera review may save time and money) (quoting Allen, 636 F.2d at 1298). Finally, when the dispute turns on the contents of the withheld documents, and not the parties' interpretations of those documents, in camera review may be more appropriate. See Carter, 830 F.2d at 393. 24 In this case, the FBI withheld 61 of the 77 pages compiled in the course of the obstruction of justice investigation pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 7(C) and 7(D) and Privacy Act Exemption (j)(2). The FBI proffered affidavits from special agents that were intended to establish that the withheld documents fell within these exemptions. While the FBI stated its willingness to have the withheld documents reviewed in camera, the district court declined the invitation and awarded the Government summary judgment on the basis of the affidavits. 25