Justice Amy Coney Barrett, then U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit judge, speaking during a panel discussion at The Federalist Society’s 2018 National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15, 2018. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)
Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered her first opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court this week in United States Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club. The court ruled against an environmental group that had sought access to government records. In a dispute between the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Sierra Club, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to decide whether privilege protects “in-house drafts that proved to be the agencies’ last word about a proposal’s potential threat to endangered species.”
The underlying issue in the case was the applicability of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Barrett, writing on behalf of the court, concludes that:
