Alliance Defending Freedom v. Internal Revenue Service, Civil Action No. 2015-0525

ADF submitted a FOIA request (July 22, 2014) seeking documents on procedures and proposed/adopted changes to Treasury Regulation §301.7611-1 and related IRS policies; suit filed April 9, 2015 after no substantive response.
IRS searched the §7611 regulation legal file, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking file, Internal Revenue Manual revision archive, and files of identified custodians; located 16,439 responsive pages, withholding 10,672 pages in full and releasing others in part.
ADF moved to compel a full Vaughn index; the court denied that motion and required a 2% random sample Vaughn index instead.
ADF limited its challenge to the adequacy/scope of the IRS’s search for documents relating to §7611, arguing IRS searched only drafting-level Chief Counsel custodians and failed to search higher-level IRS/Treasury policymakers.
IRS submitted three detailed declarations (Hovey, Harrison, Paxson) describing which custodians and systems were searched, the search terms used, and that the Chief Counsel legal file is intended to contain all documents related to the regulation project.
The district court considered whether the IRS’s search was reasonably calculated to locate responsive records and whether its declarations were sufficiently detailed; court concluded the search was adequate.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Adequacy of IRS search for records related to §7611 regulation	IRS limited search to Office of Associate Chief Counsel custodians; should have searched IRS/Treasury policymakers and leadership files; declarations lack search detail	IRS searched the TE/GE/Associate Chief Counsel legal file (which by CCDM should contain all regulation-related documents), searched custodians involved in the project, and provided search terms and systems searched	Court held IRS search was reasonable and adequate; granted IRS summary judgment and denied ADF cross-motion

SafeCard Servs., Inc. v. S.E.C., 926 F.2d 1197 (D.C. Cir.) (agency affidavits must be relatively detailed and non-conclusory)
Weisberg v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 705 F.2d 1344 (D.C. Cir.) (adequacy of search measured by reasonableness under circumstances)
Oglesby v. U.S. Dep't of the Army, 920 F.2d 57 (D.C. Cir.) (no requirement to search every record system; agency may limit search if it explains other systems unlikely to produce responsive documents)
Iturralde v. Comptroller of Currency, 315 F.3d 311 (D.C. Cir.) (agency may meet burden with reasonably detailed affidavit specifying search terms and scope)
Brayton v. Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 641 F.3d 521 (D.C. Cir.) (FOIA cases often resolved on summary judgment)
Perry v. Block, 684 F.2d 121 (D.C. Cir.) (agency need not demonstrate it found every document)
Larson v. Dep't of State, 565 F.3d 857 (D.C. Cir.) (affidavits accorded presumption of good faith absent contrary evidence)
Neal v. Kelly, 963 F.2d 453 (D.C. Cir.) (agency assertions accepted unless requester submits contradictory evidence)
Wilson v. U.S. Dep't of Transp., 730 F. Supp. 2d 140 (D.D.C.) (same principle regarding affidavits and adequacy)