UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE V. TAX ANALYSTS
492 U.S. 136 (1989)
NATURE OF THE CASE: The United States (D) appealed a reversal of a district court
decision that agency records had not been 'improperly withheld' because they were already
available from their primary source, the district courts.
FACTS: Tax Analysts (P) publishes a weekly magazine, Tax Notes, which reports on
legislative, judicial, and regulatory developments in the field of federal taxation to a
readership largely composed of tax attorneys, accountants, and economists. Tax Notes
provides summaries of recent federal court decisions on tax issues. P also provides full
texts of these decisions in microfiche form. P also publishes Tax Notes Today, a daily
electronic database that includes summaries and full texts of recent federal court tax
decisions. P filed a FOIA request asking D to make available all district court tax opinions
and final orders received by the Tax Division earlier that month. D denied the request on
the ground that these decisions were not Tax Division records. A whole lot of wrangling went
on for a number of years. P and D tried to negotiate and work out a deal. P got very
frustrated and then issued more FOIA requests. D denied those requests and P appealed this
denial administratively and lost. P then filed this suit. The court granted D’s motion to
dismiss the complaint, holding that 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B) had not been satisfied. The
court reasoned that the district court decisions at issue had not been 'improperly
withheld,' because they 'already are available from their primary sources, the District
Courts,' and thus were 'on the public record.' The court did not address whether the
district court decisions are 'agency records.' The Court of Appeals reversed and concluded
that the documents nonetheless constituted 'agency records' because D has the discretion to
use the decisions as it sees fit, because the Department routinely uses the decisions in
performing its official duties, and because the decisions are integrated into the
Department's official case files. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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