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No. 18-481October Term 2018Decided Jun 24, 2019

Docket 18-481October Term 2018 (2018–2019)

Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media

This case asked whether the government had to release store-by-store SNAP redemption data in response to a FOIA request, or whether that business information was protected from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 4.

Case status

Current stage
Decided
Latest event
Decision released Jun 24, 2019
Case Accepted
Arguments
Decision ReleasedJun 24, 2019
What it's about

This case asked whether the government had to release store-by-store SNAP redemption data in response to a FOIA request, or whether that business information was protected from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 4. The Supreme Court held that business information is "confidential" under Exemption 4 when it is normally kept private and was given to the government with an assurance of privacy.

Question presented

1. Does the statutory term "confidential" in FOIA Exemption 4 bear its ordinary meaning, thus requiring the Government to withhold all "commercial or financial information" that is confidentially held and not publicly disseminated-regardless of whether a party establishes substantial competitive harm from disclosure-which would resolve at least five circuit splits? 2. Alternatively, if the Court retains the substantial-competitive-harm test, is that test satisfied when the requested information could be potentially useful to a competitor (as the First and Tenth Circuits have held), or must the party opposing disclosure establish with near certainty a defined competitive harm like lost market share (as the Ninth and D.C. Circuits have held, and as the Eighth Circuit required here)?

Case path

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit / Decision released Jun 24, 2019

Area

Decided Supreme Court case

Timing

Decided June 24, 2019

The Court released its decision on June 24, 2019 without hearing oral argument.