1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i When Does the Government Have to Disclose Private Business Information in its Possession? Updated June 25, 2019 Update: On June 24, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its decision in FMI v. Argus Leader Media
2、 concerning when commercial and financial information may be withheld from disclosure by the government as confidential under Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (FIOA). The Court, in an opinion authored by Justice Gorsuch (and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito, Kagan, Kav
3、anaugh, and Thomas), held that information is “confidential” under Exemption 4 “at least” when it is (1) “customarily and actually treated as private by its owner” and (2)“provided to the government under an assurance of privacy.” The Supreme Court did not, however, define the precise boundaries of
4、its new test; while the Court determined that “at least the first condition”that information must “customarily and actually be treated as private by its owner”must be present for information to qualify as confidential, it did not decide whether the government must always provide assurances that info
