Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
United States Supreme Court
489 U.S. 749 (1989)
Relevant factsFree
A journalist and the Reporters Committee (plaintiff) sought under FOIA the FBI's compiled criminal-history "rap sheet" on Charles Medico, whose family company had alleged ties to organized crime and a corrupt Congressperson; the FBI withheld the rap sheet under FOIA's privacy exemption (7(c)), and after the district court sided with DOJ (defendant) and the D.C. Circuit reversed, the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
IssueFree
Whether a private person has a privacy interest in information about his criminal record to exempt that criminal record from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.