Court Opinion

ID: 9439295
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 06:30:19.883564+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:26:17.503584
License: Public Domain

RANDOLPH, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I believe all of the files of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) in the Department of Justice relating to the investigation of an individual are “compiled for law enforcement purposes” within the meaning of exemption 7(C) of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(C). OPR therefore properly refused to confirm or deny the existence of other investigations of Assistant United States Attorney Downing.
Exemption 7(C) shields law enforcement files from disclosure when release of the records would constitute “an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(C). So-called “Glomar” responses, named after the ship involved in Phillippi v. CIA, 546 F.2d 1009 (D.C.Cir.1976), are permissible answers to FOIA requests if the agency’s acknowledgment that it has investigatory files about an individual would constitute an unwarranted invasion of the individual’s privacy. If Jefferson sought law enforcement files, our decision in Beck v. Dep’t of Justice, 997 F.2d 1489 (D.C.Cir.1993), justified OPR’s Glomar response, a point about which we all agree.
We may also agree that “[ijnternal agency investigations ... in which an agency, acting as the employer, simply supervises its own employees” are not law enforcement investigations. Stern v. FBI, 737 F.2d 84, 89 (D.C.Cir.1984). But ever since its founding by Attorney General Levi in 1975, OPR has lacked general supervisory authority over DOJ attorneys. Its task has always been much narrower. OPR is a reactive agency within the Justice Department, receiving complaints and investigating “allegations of professional misconduct by Department of Justice attorneys that pertain to the exercise of their authority to investigate, litigate or provide legal advice.” Office of PROFESSIONAL RespoNSibility, Fiscal YeaR 1999 Annual RepoRt 1, http: //www.usdoj .gov/opr/99AR-Final.htm (last visited Mar. 18, 2002).
By regulation, OPR is charged with the duty of investigating the conduct of Justice Department attorneys “that may be in violation of law, regulations or orders, or of applicable standards of conduct or may constitute mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.” 28 C.F.R. § 0.39a(a) (2002). Recognizing the potential overlap with the investigative authority of the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, which “conducts and supervises audits, inspections and investigations relating to the programs and operations of the Department,” 28 C.F.R. § 0.29a(a) (2002), the Attorney General has circumscribed OPR’s authority. OPR “shall have jurisdiction to investigate allegations of misconduct by Department attorneys that relate to the exercise of their authority to investigate, litigate or provide legal advice.” Jurisdiction for Investigation of Allegations of Misconduct by Department of Justice Employees, Order No. 1931-94 (Nov. 8, 1994). The Inspector General has exclusive authority to investigate any other allegations.
When OPR receives a complaint, it conducts a preliminary inquiry. 28 C.F.R. § 0.39a(c) (2002). When OPR determines *182that the matter warrants further investigation, OPR refers it for investigation:
(1) If the matter appears to involve a violation of law, to the head of the investigative agency having jurisdiction to investigate such violations;
(2) If the matter appears not to involve a violation of law, to the head of the office, division, bureau or board to which the employee is assigned, or to the head of its internal inspection unit;
28 C.F.R. § 0.89a(d)(l) & (2) (2002).
Two points about the quoted subsections need stressing. First, the regulations treat violations of “law” as violations of statutory law and violations of regulations, standards of conduct and so forth as something else. But for FOIA purposes, “law” — as in “compiled for law enforcement purposes” — includes violations of regulations and standards of conduct and court orders and so forth. All of these sources are also law, although they are not legislation.* This is why “[investigations which focus directly on specific alleged illegal acts, illegal acts of particular identified officials, acts which could, if proved, result in civil or criminal sanctions” are investigations for law enforcement purposes within the meaning of exemption 7(C). Rural Housing Alliance v. United States Dep’t of Agric., 498 F.2d 73, 81 & n. 46 (D.C.Cir.1974).
Second, after the employee’s office conducts an investigation of his alleged non-statutory violation pursuant to § 0.39a(d)(2), it must file the investigative report with OPR, together with a description of the sanction imposed. It is the possibility that OPR possesses such a (d)(2) report relating to Assistant United States Attorney Downing that leads my colleagues to the conclusion that OPR may possess non-law enforcement files outside exemption 7(C)’s protection. This strikes me as doubly mistaken.
It wrongly assumes that any (d)(2) investigation by the head of the department would be unrelated to a law violation, an assumption that rests on a misreading of the regulations. And it also wrongly assumes that OPR receives the report for other than law enforcement purposes. What other purposes might these be? Surely not as an “employer simply supervising its employees.” Maj. op. at 177. To repeat, OPR is not a supervising agency within the Justice Department; and it does not have general oversight responsibility. Instead OPR receives the report of the (d)(2) investigation so that it may decide whether to pursue its law enforcement functions further. “When warranted, OPR conducts full investigations of such allegations, and reports its findings and conclusions to the Attorney General and other appropriate Departmental officials.” http: //www.usdoj .gov/opr/index.html. That OPR might close the file at this stage, or earlier, does not mean that the records it compiles are for other than law enforcement purposes. Not every complaint will be credible. Not every investigation will conclude that the target engaged in misconduct. And as with any agency conducting law enforcement investigations, not every piece of information in OPR’s file will constitute evidence of illegal activity. In the course of investigating someone for committing a crime, the FBI for instance *183might have its agents conduct investigations into the individual’s friends and associates, his lifestyle, his spending habits and so forth. None of these inquiries will necessarily reveal criminal activity, but there can be no doubt that the records thus compiled are for law enforcement purposes within exemption 7(C). For these reasons, I would credit the affidavit of the government attorney that “[a]ll records relating to OPR’s investigations are compiled for law enforcement purposes and, therefore, are deemed to be law enforcement files.” Declaration of Dale K. Hall, at 2. My colleagues label the sworn statement a “bare assertion,” maj. op. at 178, which has nothing to do with what should concern us — namely, whether it is true. I am convinced that it is. The majority offers no good reason for disbelieving it.
One should not be misled by the majority’s statement that our court has “decline[d] to hold as a matter of law that all OPR records are necessarily law enforcement records.” Maj. op. at 178. The most to be said of the cases cited for this proposition — Kimberlin v. Dep’t of Justice, 139 F.3d 944, 947 (D.C.Cir.1998), and Beck v. Dep’t of Justice, 997 F.2d 1489, 1492 (D.C.Cir.1993) — is that the court had no occasion to discuss, or to reach, the issue. This is the first case to do so, and I believe the result it reaches is mistaken.
Because OPR conducts law enforcement investigations, and has no other function within the Department of Justice, its records come within exemption 7(C) and a remand is unwarranted. I therefore dissent.

 When a government attorney is found to have engaged in intentional misconduct, OPR notifies the state bar association which has licensed that attorney. See General Accounting Office, Follow-up Information on the Operations of the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility 2 (2001). The ethical rules for lawyers contain enforceable standards and violations carry civil if not criminal sanctions. Also, attorneys who violate court rules can be sanctioned for contempt of court.