Brief filed: 01/17/2018
Documents
- Plaintiff's Notice of Appeal (Feb. 12, 2015)
- Plaintiff-Appellant's Preliminary Statement of Issues to be Raised (March 24, 2015)
- Opening Brief of Appellant NACDL (July 15, 2015)
- Joint Appendix (July 15, 2015)
- Brief of Sixty-Three Law Professors as Amici Curiae in Support of the Appellant and Reversal (July 22, 2015)
- Brief of Amici Curiae The Constitution Project and The Innocence Project in Support of Appellant National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (July 22, 2015)
- Brief of Amici Curiae American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation's Capital, and Electronic Frontier Foundation in Support of Appellant and Urging Reversal (July 22, 2015)
- DOJ's FOIA Opposition Brief (Aug. 28, 2015)
- NACDL Reply (Sept. 10, 2015)
- Opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (July 19, 2016)
- Order denying petition for en banc review (Dec. 20, 2016)
- Order denying panel rehearing (Dec. 20, 2016)
- Amended panel opinion (Dec. 20, 2016)
NACDL v. Executive Office for United States Attorneys and U.S. Department of Justice (appellate)
District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals; Case No. 15-5051
Argument(s)
In response to the public furor over the "egregious misconduct" by Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors in the case of the late Senator Ted Stevens, whose conviction was vacated after post-trial investigations revealed that prosecutors had withheld significant exculpatory evidence from the defense, DOJ’s Office of Legal Education published, but has not made available to the public, a text referred to as the Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book. In December 2012, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the DOJ seeking the disclosure of the Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book, which was denied in February 2013, purportedly on various privilege-based and law enforcement grounds. NACDL appealed that denial in April 2013, and was denied again in June 2013. NACDL filed federal suit in February 2014.
