PROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT, INC., APPELLANT v. NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, APPELLEE, 10 F.4th 879

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-The district court properly withheld pursuant to the presidential communications privilege in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Exemption 5, 5 U.S.C.S. § 552(b)(5), a memorandum the National Security Agency (NSA) Deputy Director wrote, memorializing a phone call between the President and the NSA Director, because the memo reflected presidential decision-making and deliberations. The conversation memorialized in the memo concerned the President's U.S. Const. art. II powers and responsibilities; [2]-An organization could not shrink the scope of the privilege by invoking FOIA's segregability requirement because the memo memorialized a single, limited conversation; [3]-The government's description of the phone call in a Special Counsel report did not waive the privilege, as not all the information in the memo specifically matched the information released in the report.