Texas Public Policy Foundation v. U.S. Department of State

The plaintiff argued that the Department failed to conduct a sufficient search of records concerning the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and improperly redacted names and agency email addresses. The court found that the Department’s declaration sufficiently demonstrated that its search was reasonably calculated to yield responsive records, shifting the burden to the plaintiff to present evidence of a genuine issue regarding the adequacy of the search. The court rejected the plaintiff’s claim that official business communications were located in the special envoy’s personal email account, deeming it speculative, and upheld the Department’s summary judgment on the issue. Additionally, the court affirmed the Department’s decision to withhold draft iterations of greenhouse gas emissions policies under FOIA Exemption 5, recognizing that early drafts may not reflect final policy decisions made by the White House. Lastly, the court determined that the redaction of names and email addresses of specific Department employees was justified under FOIA exemptions, citing both the employees’ privacy interests and the lack of substantive information in the redacted details that would further illuminate the Department’s role in formulating the NDCs.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation (Foundation) filed three lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the federal district court for the Western District of Texas to compel disclosure of documents by the Departments of Energy, State, and Commerce related to efforts to support the Biden administration’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement in which the U.S. set an economy-wide target of reducing its net greenhouse gas emissions by 50–52% below 2005 levels in 2030. The Foundation alleged that “[s]etting the Nationally Determined Contribution Number is a matter of huge economic significance” and that “[b]oth the Foundation and public have the right to know the extent of [each of the three agencies’] role in doing so.”