Government Seeks Supreme Court Review of 3rd Circuit Corporate Privacy Decision

Last Fall, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decided in a case brought by ATT against the FCC that Corporations can have privacy protection pursuant to FOIA Exemption 7(C).  This was the first circuit to make this finding, a decision that has huge ramifications in FOIA processing.  For example, a request to the FBI or SEC for records pertaining to Acme Inc. could simply be glomared.

The FOIA blog has learned that the government has now filed for cert before the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court will now possibly decide if the FOIA treats Corporations the same as individuals and offers these entities the same privacy protections.