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Jin-Pyong Peter Yim v. National Institutes of Health

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 23-1601 · judgment October 13, 2023


Certiorari denied · April 29, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

When the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) failed to respond to a record request within 20 busi­ ness days, as required by statute, Petitioner (“Yim”) filed suit. Subsequently, NIH responded by provid­ ing a website. When asked to to be more specific, the agency provided a single record but was unable to con­ firm that the record was responsive to the request. The agency then produced a declaration attesting to the existence of the requested record but the dec­ laration lacked a compliant endorsement. Thus, the agency left uncertainty as to the existence of the re­ quested record. The court is therefore asked:

  1. Must an agency specify which non-exempt records are responsive to a request?

  2. Can an agency respond to a record request based on “information and belief’?

  3. Must an agency confirm or deny the existence of a non-exempt record?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jin-Pyong Peter Yim

For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Apr 29 2024
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 10 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/26/2024.
  3. Apr 05 2024
    Waiver of right of respondent National Institutes of Health to respond filed.
  4. Feb 29 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 5, 2024)