No. 18-481October Term 2018Decided Jun 24, 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
- 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.
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Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Jun 1, 2026
- Method
- Methodology
Primary materials8
Supreme Court docket 18-481
docket | Jun 1, 2026
Primary case document
Supreme Court document | Jun 1, 2026
CourtListener docket record
docket | Jun 1, 2026
Questions Presented
brief | May 25, 2026
opinion
opinion | Jun 24, 2019
Petition
brief | Oct 11, 2018
Reply
brief | Aug 21, 2018
Lower Court Orders/Opinions
order | Aug 7, 2018