Court Opinion

ID: 9498683
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:25:12.119667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:00.502031
License: Public Domain

MAYER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Because the “deliberative process” privilege is merely a subset of executive privilege, and executive privilege must be invoked by an agency head, see Kaiser Aluminum & Chem. Corp. v. United States, 141 Ct.Cl. 38, 157 F.Supp. 939, 947-48 (Ct.Cl.1958), I dissent. Limiting the exercise of the privilege to agency heads helps ensure that the privilege is not abused or overused. A responsible subordinate may fully review documents and submit only those for which invocation of the privilege would be most appropriate to the agency head, so I see no impediment to complete and accurate review of potentially privileged documents. It is no answer that in camera judicial inspection may be available upon a proper showing in disputed circumstances; *1309executive decisions should be made by accountable executives in the first instance, and then should not be lightly second guessed.