Ancient Coin Collectors Guild, et al v. DOS, No. 09-5439 (D.C. Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs filed suit seeking certain information in Cultural Property Advisory Committee reports from the State Department ("State") related to import restrictions imposed on cultural artifacts from China, Italy, and Cyprus under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"). At issue was whether the district court properly granted summary judgment to the State where the State withheld certain documents pursuant to FOIA Exemptions 1, 3, and 5. Also at issue was whether the State made an adequate search in response to the FOIA requests. The court held that the State's invocation of Exemptions 1 and 5 was proper, as was part of its withholding under Exemption 3. However, the court reversed and remanded the district court's dismissal of plaintiffs' claims as to one document withheld under Exemption 3. Therefore, the court reversed summary judgment as to the sufficiency of the State's search for responsive emails and as to its withholding of parts of a document under 19 U.S.C. 2605(i)(1) and remanded for further clarification about backups and about the seeming gaps in the State's discussion of archived materials.
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