Supreme Court Agrees to Hear SNAP FOIA Case
Court will hear case on whether retailer SNAP redemption data should be released or if it is protected confidential information.
Jan 14, 2019
WASHINGTON, D. C. - On Friday, January 11, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari (meaning that at least four of the justices have determined that the circumstances described in the petition are sufficient to warrant review by the Court) in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media (Case No. 18-481). The case centers around whether a retailer’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) sales data is protected from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Under FOIA, the government is generally required to release selected information to the public when a FOIA request is filed. However, data relating to “trade secret and commercial or financial information” may be considered privileged or confidential and thus protected from disclosure.
This is the latest action in a case stemming from a 2011 FOIA request the Argus Leader, a South Dakota newspaper, submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In its FOIA request, the Argus Leader asked USDA to release a variety of SNAP data, including individual store-level redemption data. Citing certain FOIA exemptions, namely that such information was confidential financial information, the agency refused to release retailers’ sales data. Subsequently, the Argus Leader sued USDA in federal court, seeking judgment that the retailer-specific revenue data was not exempt from FOIA disclosure.
After a multi-year legal battle, in November 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota found in favor of the Argus Leader, ruling that SNAP retailer redemption data was not protected as confidential business data under FOIA and should be disclosed to the public. USDA then announced in January 2017 that it would not appeal the court’s decision and would instead release the SNAP retailer redemption data.
Shortly thereafter, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) intervened in the case and appealed, which led to a ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on May 8, 2018, upholding the District Court for South Dakota’s decision. FMI then filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court, which resulted in an August 10 decision delay the agency’s release of the SNAP redemption data—and ultimately, to this past Friday’s decision by the Court to hear the case.
NACS, which filed an amicus brief with the Court in support of FMI’s position and has long been monitoring this issue, is pleased the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case.
It is expected the case will be heard during the April oral argument session.
Stay tuned to the NACS Daily for further developments and information.
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