American Civil Liberties Union Foundation et al v. Department of Justice et al

Filing 116

ORDER re 114 Status Report filed by Department of Homeland Security, 115 Status Report filed by American Civil Liberties Foundation of Northern California, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation. Signed by Judge Robert M. Illman on 04/26/2021. (rmilc2S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 4/26/2021)

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Case 3:19-cv-00290-EMC Document 116 Filed 04/26/21 Page 1 of 2 1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 EUREKA DIVISION 7 8 9 AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, et al., Plaintiffs, 10 v. United States District Court Northern District of California ORDER Re: Dkt. Nos. 114, 115 11 12 Case No. 19-cv-00290-EMC (RMI) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, et al., Defendants. 13 On March 26, 2021, the court entered an order directing the Department of Homeland 14 15 Security (“DHS”) to adhere to a certain schedule regarding the processing and production of 16 documents in this Freedom of Information Act case. See Order of March 26, 2021 (dkt. 110). DHS 17 was warned that the “deadlines are firm and no extensions or relief will be entertained by the 18 undersigned absent extraordinary circumstances; and, any failures in compliance may result in 19 sanctions.” Id. at 2. Instead of complying, DHS has filed a lengthy “status report” that does little 20 more than to enumerate the details of its failure to comply with the schedule set by the court’s 21 previous order. See Status Report (dkt. 114). The court is running out of patience, and DHS’s 22 continued failure to abide by the provisions set forth below will most certainly result in sanctions. 23 In light of Plaintiffs’ objections to DHS’s continued delays, the court now orders as 24 follows: 25 (1) 26 specific, reliable estimates of the pages of records potentially responsive to parts 2, 3, and 5— 27 including identifying the number of pages associated with particular components, de-duplication, 28 page imaging, and/or accounting for the extent to which Excel files, embedded objects and DHS is ORDERED to immediately complete all actions necessary to generate reasonably Case 3:19-cv-00290-EMC Document 116 Filed 04/26/21 Page 2 of 2 1 images, or other artifacts of the record search have artificially inflated the number of potentially 2 responsive records. 3 (2) 4 of this Order, estimates of the volume of potentially responsive records attributable to specific 5 document types, components, date ranges, and any other reasonably ascertainable categories of 6 information that could aid the Parties in identifying ways to further adjust search parameters in 7 order to reduce the volume of responsive records to a manageable amount. 8 (3) 9 court such that a sanctions hearing may be quickly set. If DHS does meet its 14-day deadline, the DHS is FURTHER ORDERED to communicate to Plaintiffs, within 14 days of the date If DHS fails to meet its 14-day deadline, Plaintiffs are directed to promptly inform the Parties are ORDERED to submit a status report setting forth their respective positions as to the 11 United States District Court Northern District of California 10 appropriate processing rate and schedule no later than 28 days of the date of this order. 12 13 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: April 26, 2021 14 15 ROBERT M. ILLMAN United States Magistrate Judge 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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