In a blow to FOIA, Supreme Court reverses Argus Leader case

In a blow to FOIA, Supreme Court reverses Argus Leader case

Ruling expands “Confidential” definition under b(4) to information that is “both customarily and actually treated as private by its owner and provided to the government under an assurance of privacy”

Written by
Edited by Michael Morisy

Earlier this year, we reported on an upcoming Supreme Court case, Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, which some in the FOIA community feared might severely restrict the public’s ability to track the flow of tax dollars into private companies.

Today, SCOTUS passed down its ruling, and it appears those fears were justified. As the Reporter’s Committee for the Freedom of the Press Adam Marshall summarized it in a Twitter thread, the ruling ignores precedent to broadly expands the definition of “confidential” under FOIA’s b(4) exemption.

You can read the ruling embedded below.


Image by Joe Ravi via Wikimedia Commons and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.