FOIA Update: Court Accepts Exemption 6 Case
Vol. XIV, No. 2
1993
Court Accepts Exemption 6 Case
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving Exemption 6 of the FOIA, one which also involves the Privacy Act and a complex federal labor statute. On March 29, it granted certiorari in FLRA v. DOD, 975 F.2d 1105 (5th Cir. 1992), cert. granted, 113 S. Ct. 1642 (1993), a case arising under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Act (FSLMRA) in which an agency was ordered to disclose the names and home addresses of its employees for union purposes. Because the FSLMRA requires such disclosure unless prohibited by law, and the Privacy Act prohibits it unless required under the FOIA, the case turns on whether the public interest embodied in the FSLMRA should be factored into the balance under Exemption 6. The Court's decision will resolve a conflict among several circuit courts on the issue. See FOIA Update, Summer 1992, at 2.
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