DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE V. REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
489 U.S. 749 (1989)
NATURE OF THE CASE: This was a dispute over disclosure of FBI rap sheets as an invasion
of privacy under the FOIA.
FACTS: Congress gave the FBI authority to maintain rap sheets on criminals. A rap sheet
is preserved until its subject attains the age of 80. Because of the volume of rap sheets,
they are sometimes incorrect or incomplete and sometimes contain information about other
persons with similar names. Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies that exchange
rap sheet data with the FBI do so on a voluntary basis. The FBI has generally treated rap
sheets as confidential information and has restricted their use to governmental purposes for
the most part. Congress explicitly permitted disclosure of rap sheets to authorities
responsible for regulating the banking, securities, and nuclear power industries.
Forty-seven States place substantial restrictions on the availability of criminal history
summaries even though the individual events are matters of public record. CBS and the
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (Ps) made FOIA requests for information
concerning the criminal records of four members of the Medico family. Their FOIA requests
sought disclosure of arrests, indictments, acquittals, convictions and sentences. The FBI
denied the request but then supplied information on three of the members after their deaths.
Ps sought the rap sheet for the fourth family member. The District Court granted the
Department's motion for summary judgment and the D.C. Circuit reversed. The Supreme Court
granted certiorari.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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