Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 7, 1988 Decided March 22, 1989
Full case name	United States Department of Justice, et al. v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, et al.
Citations	489 U.S. 749 (more) 109 S. Ct. 1468; 103 L. Ed. 2d 774; 57 U.S.L.W. 4373; 16 Media L. Rep. 1545
Prior history	816 F.2d 730, and 831 F.2d 1124 (reversed)
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority	Stevens, joined by Rehnquist, White, Marshall, O'Connor, Scalia, and Kennedy
Concurrence	Blackmun (in judgment), joined by Brennan
Laws applied
Freedom of Information Act

United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749 (1989) was a case before the United States Supreme Court.

Journalists requested, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), that the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disclose any criminal records in its possession concerning four brothers whose family company allegedly had obtained defense contracts through an improper arrangement with a corrupt Congressman. The Department released only the "rap sheet" of the fourth, deceased brother.

The journalists sued in District Court, limiting their request to documents containing information that was a matter of public record. While the suit was pending, two more of the brothers died, and the FBI (1) released the requested data concerning those brothers, (2) indicated that any financial crime information about the remaining brother could be disclosed in the public interest, but that no such information existed, and (3) refused to release any rap sheet or other records containing nonfinancial criminal information about him.

The District Court, granting the Department's motion for summary judgment after an in camera review of the requested information, held that such information was exempted from FOIA's disclosure requirements by various FOIA provisions, including Exemption 7(C) (5 USCS 552(b)(7)(C)), which applies to investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes where production of such records could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed and remanded (259 App DC 426, 816 F2d 730), holding that

Accordingly, the Court of Appeals directed the District Court to determine, on remand, whether the withheld information was publicly available at its source, and if so, whether the Department might satisfy its statutory obligation by referring the journalists to the enforcement agency or agencies that had provided the original information.

On rehearing, the Court of Appeals, modifying its holding, said that most state policies in fact did not favor disclosure of rap sheets, but that the District Court should nonetheless make a factual determination whether the remaining brother's privacy interest in his rap-sheet information had faded because such information appeared on the public record (265 App DC 365, 831 F2d 1124). The Court of Appeals subsequently denied rehearing en banc.