On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court upended decades of lower court precedent to expand protection of “trade secrets and commercial or financial” information from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It is important to note that the court’s ruling does not pertain to the Defend Trade Secrets Act.

The court in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, No. 18-481 (U.S. June 24, 2019) addressed the scope of the “trade secrets and commercial or financial information” exception to the FOIA. The federal government maintains information from countless businesses regarding their compliance with federal laws or programs. Under previous cases, a governmental entity receiving a FOIA request had to demonstrate a “substantial competitive harm” to the disclosing business to invoke the exception and thereby avoid producing categories of documents. The court rejected the “substantial competitive harm” standard, and raised new questions as to what constitutes “confidential” information exempted from FOIA disclosure.