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Milner v. Department of the Navy
United States Supreme Court
No. 09-1163
QUESTIONS PRESENTED
Whether 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(2), which allows a government agency to keep secret only documents related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency, must be strictly construed to preclude the "High 2" expansion created by some circuits but rejected by others. The “High 2” expansion is a broad judicial interpretation of Exemption 2, which removes certain documents from the disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
CASE OVERVIEW AND HISTORY
Glen Milner requested maps showing how far an explosion would travel from the U.S. Navy’s Navel Magazine Indian Island into the surrounding public waters, property and community. The Navy refused, which the Ninth Circuit upheld based on the “High 2” interpretation of the FOIA’s Exemption 2, allowing an agency to withhold documents that are not related solely to internal employee relations, but that are “predominantly internal” and their “disclosure presents a risk of circumvention of agency regulation.”
Ninth Circuit decision
Supreme Court Docket
SUPREME COURT RULING: pending
TIMELINE
COMMENTARY
12/1/2010