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Freedom of Information Act › Supreme Court of the United States

The Freedom of Information Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1966 to promote government transparency and the free exchange of public information. Under FOIA, any individual can request federal... more +
The Freedom of Information Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1966 to promote government transparency and the free exchange of public information. Under FOIA, any individual can request federal agency records and enforce that right in a court of law. However, not all agency records can be requested; there are nine exempt categories of information. In addition to the federal law, many states have passed their own freedom of information acts. These acts are often similar but not always identical to the federal version.  less -
Reveal

The Keys to a Successful FOIA Request

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Want access to James Comey’s private memos detailing his interactions with President Donald Trump? Yeah, so do we. But if you submit a FOIA request for the memos to the FBI or DOJ, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be rejected....more

Hinch Newman LLP

The Art of Responding to an FTC CID by an FTC CID Lawyer

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A Federal Trade Commission Civil Investigative Demand is an administrative subpoena utilized by the Federal Trade Commission (and other regulatory agencies, such as a state Attorney General) to obtain documentary materials...more

Freeman Law

The Freedom of Information Act’s “Confidentiality” Exception

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We frequently utilize the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) as a tool for our clients. The FOIA, subject to several exceptions and exclusions, generally provides that any person has the right to request access to federal...more

Cozen O'Connor

AMG Capital Decision May Mean More FTC Collaboration With State AGs, Increased Costs, Longer Timelines

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has, for decades, considered itself a partner of state AGs in combatting anticompetitive, unfair, and deceptive trade practices, and state AGs certainly feel the same way. In December 2020,...more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

A Court-Side Seat: Clean Air, Clean Water, Endangered Species and Deliberative Process Privilege

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The federal courts have issued some significant environmental law rulings in the past few days. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, Inc. On March 4, 2021, the court held that the...more

Snell & Wilmer

Supreme Court Issues Opinion Expanding the Scope of FOIA Exemption

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A common tactic by competitors is to seek adversaries’ (or even supply-chain partners’) data that is maintained by the United States, an individual state, or even municipal governmental agencies. These efforts are meant to...more

WilmerHale

U.S. Fish Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club: US Supreme Court Boosts Ability of Agencies to Withhold Draft Documents

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On March 4, 2021, the US Supreme Court held that draft biological opinions prepared by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were subject to the deliberative process privilege...more

Stinson LLP

Supreme Court Protects Drafts Under Deliberative Process Privilege

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Last week, in Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s first signed opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the deliberative process privilege under exception 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), limiting litigants’ ability to...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The Supreme Court – March 4, 2021

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Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued the following two decisions: United States Fish and Wildlife Serv. v. Sierra Club, Inc., No. 19-547: The Sierra Club submitted Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”)...more

Troutman Pepper

Supreme Court Sides with Agency on Deliberative Process Privilege

Troutman Pepper on

Today, in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service et al. v. Sierra Club Inc., Case No. 19-547, the United States Supreme Court struck down a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that the federal government was required to turn over...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Supreme Court Decides United States Fish and Wildlife Service et al. v. Sierra Club, Inc.

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On March 4, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States Fish and Wildlife Service et al. v. Sierra Club, Inc., holding that the deliberative process privilege exemption in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) protects...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The Supreme Court - March 2, 2020

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This morning, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in the following cases: California v. Texas, No. 19-840; Texas v. California, No. 19-1019: A petition for a writ of certiorari and conditional...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

MBHB Snippets: A review of developments in Intellectual Property Law - Volume 17, Issue 3

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2019 Patent Trial and Appeal Board Key Practice Updates: A Year in Review - 2019 has been an active year for procedural changes in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). These changes include not only the PTAB’s...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Supreme Court Expands Trade Secrets Exemption from FOIA

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Businesses often worry that the information they provide to the government will be disclosed, and with good reason – such information is presumptively available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act...more

PilieroMazza PLLC

SCOTUS Strengthens Protections for Federal Government Contractors Under FOIA

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The Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA” or “the Act”) provides private citizens access to information in the possession of government agencies that is not otherwise publicly available. Unfortunately, an agency’s disclosure can...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

Protecting Government Contractors’ Confidential Information Just Got Easier

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At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an important Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) decision that decreases the burden on contractors seeking to protect confidential information. As most contractors are aware,...more

Perkins Coie

Is the U.S. Supreme Court’s FOIA Decision a Game Changer for Companies Seeking to Prevent Disclosure of Proprietary Information?

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In its recent decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media d/b/a Argus Leader, No. 18-481, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a decades-old legal standard for companies that wish to shield their business...more

Perkins Coie

EPA Revises its FOIA Regulations

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The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule June 26, 2019, revising the agency’s Freedom of Information Act regulations. According to EPA, those regulations, last updated in 2002, required revision to comply with...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Protecting Confidential Business Information

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Supreme Court Upends Half-Century Standard for Handling Confidential Commercial Information Under the Freedom of Information Act - Businesses that provide sensitive commercial or financial information to the federal...more

Miles & Stockbridge P.C.

Supreme Court Decision Broadens Protection for Confidential Information against Disclosure under FOIA

Miles & Stockbridge P.C. on

In a significant decision for Government contractors, the Supreme Court has expanded the types of “commercial or financial information” that are “confidential,” and therefore exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Capital Markets & Public Companies Quarterly: SEC Proposes Amendments to Accelerated and Large Accelerated Filer Definitions,...

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During the previous quarter, the SEC proposed new rulemaking to reduce the number of smaller companies that become subject to enhanced reporting requirements through “accelerated filer” and “large accelerated filer” status....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Supreme Court Issues Decision Significantly Expanding the Scope of FOIA’s Confidentiality Exemption

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Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 24, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media and resolved fractured circuit splits about the parameters for when the government may withhold...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Supreme Court Rules on FOIA and the Protection of Sensitive Company Information

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A recent Supreme Court case determined that private commercial and financial information that is transmitted to the federal government under an assurance of privacy is considered “confidential” and not subject to disclosure...more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

A Recap of the Supreme Court’s 2019 Summer Slate

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As usual, the last month of the Supreme Court’s term generated significant rulings on all manner of cases, possibly presaging the new directions the Court will be taking in administrative and regulatory law....more

Blank Rome LLP

The Supreme Court Expands the Meaning of “Confidential” Information under FOIA Exemption 4

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The Supreme Court in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, No. 18-481 (U.S. June 24, 2019) recently relaxed the standard for withholding confidential information under Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act...more

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