N.Y. Times Co. v. U.S. Dep't of Justice

• Citation: 939 F.3d 479
• Decision Date: 27 September 2019
• Docket Number: No. 17-2066,August Term 2018,17-2066
• Parties: The NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY and Charlie Savage Plaintiffs-Appellee-Cross-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

939 F.3d 479

The NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY and Charlie Savage Plaintiffs-Appellee-Cross-Appellants,

v.UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee.

No. 17-2066

August Term 2018

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: December 13, 2018

Decided: September 27, 2019

APPEARING FOR APPELLANT: Jeannette A. Vargas, Assistant U.S. Attorney United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York New York, NY

APPEARING FOR APPELLEES: David Edward McCraw The New York Times Company New York, NY

Before: Jacobs and Calabresi, Circuit Judges, and Rakoff, District Judge.¹

RAKOFF, District Judge:

Plaintiffs-appellees The New York Times and reporter Charlie Savage (collectively "The Times") seek access under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") to five internal memoranda of defendant-appellant the Department of Justice ("DOJ") and accompanying exhibits. These memoranda and exhibits detail DOJ's legal reasoning and factual analysis in making the determinations, first, that it would formally investigate only two of more than one hundred alleged instances of abuse of detainees allegedly held overseas in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA") and, subsequently, that it would not bring criminal charges in either of those two cases.

DOJ argues, and the plaintiffs do not contest, that these memoranda and exhibits were attorney work product when drafted, which would generally shield them from disclosure under FOIA's Exemption 5. Plaintiffs argue, however, that two public statements thereafter made by then-Attorney General Eric Holder had the effect of (a) expressly adopting or incorporating by reference the contents and reasoning of the memoranda and exhibits or (b) waiving the work product protection under common law principles, in either case removing them from Exemption 5 protection. The District Court granted, in relevant part, the Times's motion for summary judgment, holding that Attorney General Holder's public statements expressly adopted the memoranda by relying on their reasoning. Subsequently, however, a panel of this Court, in American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency, 925 F.3d 576 (2d Cir. 2019), clarified the reach of the "expressly adopted" exception to Exemption 5 in ways that make the district court's approach untenable.² Nonetheless, common law principles of waiver, which are applicable to Exemption 5, require disclosure of some limited portions of the memoranda and exhibits. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part.

BACKGROUND

The Times seeks access under FOIA to five memoranda (and accompanying exhibits) written by U.S. Attorney John Durham to then-Attorney General Eric Holder.³ These memoranda and exhibits contain Durham's recommendations not to open formal criminal investigations in all but two instances of the CIA's alleged mistreatment of detainees overseas in the years following the September 11, 2001 attacks, and not to pursue criminal charges in those two cases.

As the two District Court opinions below explain in more detail, see 138 F. Supp. 3d 462 (S.D.N.Y. 2015) and 235 F. Supp. 3d 522 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), the investigations at issue began in January 2008 when a previous Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, appointed Durham to lead a criminal investigation into the CIA's destruction of video tapes of detainee interrogations abroad. In April 2009, Holder expanded Durham's mandate, directing him to investigate potential violations of law (such as "waterboarding") in connection with the interrogations themselves. 138 F. Supp. 3d at 467. Durham proceeded to investigate 101 alleged incidents of CIA mistreatment of detainees. Id. On May 26, 2011, Durham sent a confidential memorandum to Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole, recommending that the Department open formal criminal investigations into only two of the alleged incidents — in both of which the respective detainee had died in custody — and to close the informal preliminary investigations of the other ninety-nine. Id. Durham also provided two additional reports, with a total of eleven exhibits, dated December 14, 2010 and May 26, 2011, detailing further support for his recommendations to open the two formal investigations. Id.

On June 30, 2011, Holder issued a press release accepting Durham's recommendations. 138 F. Supp. 3d at 467-68. In pertinent part, the release read as follows:

On August 24, 2009, based on information the Department received pertaining to alleged CIA mistreatment of detainees, I announced that I had expanded Mr. Durham's mandate to conduct a preliminary review into whether federal laws were violated in connection with the interrogation of specific detainees at overseas locations. I made clear at that time that the Department would not prosecute anyone who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees. Accordingly, Mr. Durham's review examined primarily whether any unauthorized interrogation techniques were used by CIA interrogators, and if so, whether such techniques could constitute violations of the torture statute or any other applicable statute.

In carrying out his mandate, Mr. Durham examined any possible CIA involvement with the interrogation of 101 detainees who were in United States custody subsequent to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a number of whom were determined by Mr. Durham to have never been in CIA custody. He identified the matters to include within his review by examining various sources including the Office of Professional Responsibility's report regarding the Office of Legal Counsel memoranda related to enhanced interrogation techniques, the 2004 CIA Inspector General's report on enhanced interrogations, additional matters investigated by the CIA Office of Inspector General, the February 2007 International Committee of the Red Cross Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody, and public source information.

Mr. Durham and his team reviewed a tremendous volume of information pertaining to the detainees. That review included both information and matters that had never previously been examined by the Department. Mr. Durham has advised me of the results of his investigation, and I have accepted his recommendation to conduct a full criminal investigation regarding the death in custody of two individuals. Those investigations are ongoing. The Department has determined that an expanded criminal investigation of the remaining matters is not warranted.

Statement of the Attorney General Regarding Investigation into the Interrogation of Certain Detainees, Dep't Just. (June 30, 2011).

Over the next fourteen months, Durham further investigated the two detainee deaths, but ultimately concluded that DOJ should not file charges in those cases. He communicated these recommendations in two additional memoranda addressed to Eric Holder and the Deputy Attorney General, dated March 14, 2012 and July 11, 2012. 138 F. Supp. 3d. at 468. On August 30, 2012, Holder adopted both recommendations in a second press release, which read as follows:

[Mr.] John Durham has now completed his investigations, and the Department has decided not to initiate criminal charges in these matters. In reaching this determination, Mr. Durham considered all potentially applicable substantive criminal statutes as well as the statutes of limitations and jurisdictional provisions that govern prosecutions under those statutes. Mr. Durham and his team reviewed a tremendous volume of information pertaining to the detainees. That review included both information and matters that were not examined during the Department's prior reviews. Based on the fully developed factual record concerning the two deaths, the Department has declined prosecution because the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.

During the course of his preliminary review and subsequent investigations, Mr. Durham examined any possible CIA involvement with the interrogation and detention of 101 detainees who were alleged to have been in United States custody subsequent to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He determined that a number of the detainees were never in CIA custody. Mr. Durham identified the matters to include within his review by examining various sources including the Office of Professional Responsibility's report regarding the Office of Legal Counsel memoranda related to enhanced interrogation techniques, the 2004 CIA Inspector General's report on enhanced interrogations, additional matters investigated by the CIA Office of Inspector General, the February 2007 International Committee of the Red Cross Report on the Treatment of Fourteen ‘High Value Detainees’ in CIA Custody, and public source information.

Mr. Durham and his team of agents and prosecutors have worked tirelessly to conduct extraordinarily thorough and complete preliminary reviews and investigations. I am grateful to his team and to him for their commitment to ensuring that the preliminary review and the subsequent investigations fully examined a broad universe of allegations from multiple sources. I continue to believe that our Nation will be better for it.

Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on Closure of Investigation into the Interrogation of Certain Detainees, Dep't Just. (Aug. 30, 2012).

On April 11, 2014, the New York Times submitted an FOIA request seeking from the DOJ "any reports to the attorney general describing or presenting findings" from Mr. Durham's investigations. After DOJ declined to produce these documents, the Times filed suit in the District Court on May 28, 2014. DOJ subsequently provided an index stating that it had withheld eighteen responsive memoranda under various FOIA exemptions. The parties cross-moved for summary judgment.

The District Court granted in part and denied in part each party's motion for...