Access to electronic records
Hagar v. Federal Bureau of Investigation
In brief
- Where it stands
- Dismissed
Petition denied.
- What it’s about
- Michael A. Hagar asked the Supreme Court to review his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) dispute with the FBI over an electronic file’s metadata, internet addresses withheld under a privacy exemption, and the Fifth Circuit clerk’s rejection of his reply brief.
- Who it affects
- Hagar received no Supreme Court ruling on whether the FBI's response or the Fifth Circuit clerk's handling of his brief was lawful.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.

What it's about
The Court refused to hear his case (denied his petition) and did not decide those issues.
Hagar's petition challenged both the FBI's FOIA response and the way the Fifth Circuit handled his appeal.
Question presented
1. Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in holding that an agency may refuse to produce a complete electronic record it already possesses and is required to maintain under the Federal Records Act — where that record is a discrete electronic file containing embedded metadata that the regulations define as a textual component that exists alongside the content within the file — by characterizing the duplication of that existing file as impermissible "creation" of a new record under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, in direct conflict with the Ninth Circuit's holding in Center for Investigative Reporting v. United States DO J, 982 F.3d 668 (9th Cir. 2020); and whether an agency's FOIA production obligation, including the right to receive production to a designee, is extinguished by an incarcerated requester's inability to personally possess electronic files. 2. Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in leaving intact a district court ruling that applied FOIA Exemption 7(C)'s "personal privacy" protection to Internet Protocol addresses belonging to Microsoft Corporation and Eaton Corporation — without applying this Court's unanimous holding in FCC v. AT&T Inc., 562 U.S. 397 (2011), that Exemption 7(C) does not extend to corporations — and without the agency itself having claimed that exemption, in a decision that now stands as an unreversed precedent affecting future requesters throughout the circuit. 3. Whether the Fifth Circuit's decision was rendered on a materially incomplete record because the clerk's office rejected Petitioner's reply brief without applying the prison mailbox rule of Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988), where Petitioner deposited the brief two days before the deadline while still incarcerated, and whether the court's failure to notify Petitioner of the rejection despite having his updated address on file and actively corresponding with the government about the same case denied him a meaningful opportunity to be heard.
Documents
Docket activity
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
AI analysis generated: Decision Record
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
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Brief added: Petition
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.