Sierra Club v. Office of Management and Budget

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United States District Court
Northern District of California
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
SIERRA CLUB,
Plaintiff,
v.
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET,
Defendant.
Case No. 25-cv-05732-LJC
SCHEDULING ORDER
Re: Dkt. No. 29
The Court has reviewed the parties’ proposed schedules (ECF No. 29), and now ORDERS
as follows.
The production schedule of 400 pages per month proposed by Defendant Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) is inadequate on its face. OMB has not shown that its proposal
is warranted by anything other than self-imposed constraints in resources and staffing. See Ctr. to
Advance Sec. in Am. v. U.S. Agency for Int’l Dev., No. CV 24-3505 (RDM), 2025 WL 763735, at
*2 (D.D.C. Mar. 11, 2025) (“[T]he Court is skeptical that an agency can avoid its obligations
under FOIA—including the obligation to process a request in an efficient and prompt manner—by
simply implementing a reduction-in-force . . . and, more generally, by reducing the agency’s
overall FOIA staff . . . .”). OMB’s schedule is also internally inconsistent, indicating (for
example) that OMB has already “begun processing the search results for Request No. 2025-
825(A) at a rate of 400 pages per month,” but will not provide its “first rolling production of
documents responsive to” that request until two months from the date of the parties’ joint
statement. ECF No. 29 at 5. The Court therefore adopts a modified version of Plaintiffs’
proposed schedule. This Order is without prejudice to the parties stipulating, or to either side
moving, to adjust any deadline set forth herein based on a showing of good cause.
Case 3:25-cv-05732-LJC Document 30 Filed 02/11/26 Page 1 of 3

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United States District Court
Northern District of California
OMB shall respond to Plaintiffs’ January 12, 2026 questions no later than February 18,
2026, if OMB has not already responded.
OMB shall complete its first production of 631 pages (search results after domain-name
narrowing) on Request No. 2025-825 Part A no later than February 25, 2026.
The parties shall meet and confer, either in person or by videoconference, regarding the
topics identified by Plaintiff (ECF No. 29 at 3) no later than February 25, 2026.
OMB shall complete production of the remaining approximately 869 pages responsive to
Request No. 2025-825(A) no later than March 4, 2026.1
OMB shall produce documents responsive to Request No. 2025-609 at a rate of either 400
documents per month or 2,000 pages per month,2 beginning with a production that meets at least
one of those two thresholds no later than March 9, 2026 and continuing with further productions
no later than the first business day of each month thereafter. The discrepancy between the first
deadline around a week into March and subsequent deadlines at the start of each month is
intentional, to allow OMB some degree of time and flexibility in ramping up its review and
production.
The Court declines to set a deadline at this time for motions for summary judgment. The
parties may file motions as they see fit, consistent with applicable rules and orders.
The case is hereby REFERRED to a randomly selected magistrate judge for a settlement
conference to take place no later than April 28, 2026. If the parties have resolved all of their
disputes or believe that deadline is premature, or if the assigned magistrate judge is not available
before that date, the Court will consider extending or vacating that deadline on request raised by
administrative motion or by stipulation and proposed order. The parties must consult with the
assigned settlement judge before raising any request to continue or vacate the settlement
1 The Court construes the parties’ joint statement as indicating that there are no documents
responsive to Request Nos. 2025-825(B) and (C) within OMB’s custody and control, which is the
most natural reading of the parties’ statement, but perhaps not the only permissible reading. See
ECF No. 29 at 2. If the Court’s understanding is not accurate, OMB must file a notice to correct
the record no later than February 18, 2026.
2 In other words, each monthly production must meet at least one of those two thresholds, but need
not meet both of them.
Case 3:25-cv-05732-LJC Document 30 Filed 02/11/26 Page 2 of 3

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United States District Court
Northern District of California
conference deadline, and the Court will take the settlement judge’s views into account in
considering such a request.
A further case management conference will occur by Zoom webinar videoconference at
1:30 PM on May 14, 2026. The parties shall file an updated joint case management statement no
later than May 7, 2026.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: February 11, 2026
LISA J. CISNEROS
United States Magistrate Judge
Case 3:25-cv-05732-LJC Document 30 Filed 02/11/26 Page 3 of 3