Lawsuits

CREW v. Department of Justice

CREW v. Department of Justice (Yoo emails)

On May 11, 2010, CREW filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) for failing to provide records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) relating to missing emails sent to or from John Yoo. In February 2010, DOJ made public a July 2009 report of its investigation into the roles of former high-ranking Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) officials John Yoo and Patrick Philbin in the drafting of OLC’s torture memos, which authorized the use of torture when interrogating detainees outside of the United States. The investigation was hampered by the fact that most of Mr. Yoo’s emails and many of Mr. Philbin’s had disappeared. CREW’s initial FOIA request asked OLC to provide any guidance DOJ employees received regarding preservation of emails as well as any records showing there might have been problems with the storage or retention of emails in OLC. CREW sent a follow-up request seeking copies of all existing emails sent to or from Mr. Yoo, in an effort to ascertain the extent of the problem with his missing emails. CREW later filed a third FOIA request for Mr. Yoo’s emails with DOJ’s Justice Management Division. After CREW sued, DOJ disclosed more than a thousand pages of records, and CREW subsequently agreed to dismiss the lawsuit. The court later awarded CREW attorneys’ fees.