About a month ago, Ars published actual “six strikes” alerts that Comcast has been sending to its customers believed to be violating copyright over its network. (We’re still waiting to see if the other ISPs will oblige our requests.)

In that piece, we noted that Chris Soghoian, a policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), had submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to learn more about the creation of the six strikes program. Soghoian and a University of Arizona professor serving as his legal counsel had a pending legal case to compel the Obama Administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release more information and related documents.

Previously, Soghoian received some e-mails dating back to 2010 showing the White House’s involvement in the program, which is formally known as the “Copyright Alert System.” His lawsuit against the OMB (filed before he joined the ACLU) was aimed at releasing even more documents and additional correspondence that would help elucidate the government's role in crafting the policy.

On Tuesday, a federal court in Washington, DC denied Soghoian’s FOIA application in summary judgment. The court ruled that the OMB was not obliged to release further documents, agreeing with the government that they are protected under a FOIA exemption for drafts.

“Protecting documents pertaining to the deliberative process here serves the underlying policy objectives of avoiding disclosure of proposed policies prior to their adoption and reducing the possibility of misleading the public by disclosing documents that suggest certain reasons for a future decision that do not ultimately bear upon that decision,” Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote.

“The Court therefore finds defendant has upheld its burden of demonstrating that the documents containing discussions among government employees pertaining to the [memorandum of understanding] are pre-decisional in nature.”

Soghoian told Ars he is “evaluating my options” and isn't sure if he will appeal the decision. “I'm obviously unhappy with the court's decision,” he told Ars.

“Six strikes has been forced on the American public, yet we didn't have a seat at the table during the negotiations. Victoria Espinel is a public servant and is supposed to be working for taxpayers. However, the extent of her involvement in the six strikes negotiations remains shrouded in secrecy. The public has a right to know.”