Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Food & Drug Administration

449 F.3d 141 (D.C. Cir. 2006)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D approved the drug mifepristone (RU-486), for 'medical abortion' during the first 49 days of pregnancy. P submitted a FOIA request seeking all elated documents in D's possession. A few months later, having not received any documents, P sought to enforce its request. D requested a stay, which the District Court granted. D had until October 15, 2001. After searching about 250,000 pages of information, D disclosed over 9,000 relevant pages. It withheld over 4,000 other relevant documents in their entirety and parts of almost 2,000 more. D compiled and produced a 1,500-page Vaughn index to summarize the withholdings. D filed a supporting declaration by Andrea Masciale, who supervised D's search and review of documents for the FOIA request. Danco Laboratories and Population Council--mifepristone's creator and manufacturer, respectively--intervened in the suit and filed two additional affidavits. The intervenors' affidavits supported D's reasons for using Exemptions 4 and 6 to withhold information submitted to it during mifepristone's approval. D moved for summary judgment. The District Court granted summary judgment for the FDA as to all matters. P appealed.