Federal appeals court orders DOJ to disclose surveillance documents

Erik Slobe reports:

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] on Thursday ordered [opinion, PDF] the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] to disclose two documents within an internal DOJ resource manual for federal prosecutors related to electronic surveillance and tracking devices in criminal investigations.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California [advocacy website] filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the documents, and the DOJ claimed the documents were exempt under FOIA Exemptions 5 and 7(E). Exemption 5 relates to attorney work product, while exemption 7(E) relates to details or means of deploying law enforcement techniques.

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via Centennial Man