FOIA Update
Vol. V, No. 1
1984
Under Advisement
The following pending cases involve FOIA issues of particular significance that are expected to
be decided in the near future:
National Organization for Women v. Social Security Administration, No. 76-2119 (D.C. Cir.)
Decision Below: Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Usery, 426 F. Supp. 150 (D.D.C. 1976).
Issues: Is the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1905, an Exemption 3 statute? Is it congruent with
Exemption 4? Status: Argued before the D.C. Circuit on May 1, 1980; still pending after all these
years.
Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. v. Department of Justice, No. 83-1138 (D.C. Cir.)
Environmentat Defense Fund v. OMB, No. 83-1685 (D.C. Cir.) (consolidated on appeal).
Decisions Below: 3 GDS ¶ 83,064 (D.D.C. 1982) and 3 GDS ¶ 82,468 (D.D.C. 1982),
respectively. Issue: Are appointment books and daily logs of senior officials "agency records"?
Status: Argued before the D.C. Circuit on November 22, 1983.
Stern v. FBI, No. 83-1861 (D.C. Cir.). Decision Below: 3 GDS ¶ 83,202 (D.D.C. 1983) (see FOIA
Update, Fall 1983, at 7). Issue: Can identities of censured FBI Special Agents be protected under
Exemption 6 and/or Exemption 7(C)? Status: Argued before the D.C. Circuit on February 29,
1984.
Bartel v. FAA, No. 82-2473 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 17, 1984). Issue: Do only actual FOIA disclosures
trigger the "required" disclosure exception to the Privacy Act's disclosure prohibition under 5
U.S.C. § 552a(b)(2)? (A panel of the D.C. Circuit, in a radical departure from existing law and
policy, decided this crucial FOIA-related issue adversely to the Government.) Status: Pending on
the Government's petition for rehearing en banc filed March 6.
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