In blow to FOIA advocates, Supreme Court blocks South Dakota newspaper from 'confidential' food stam

[Eugene]

Source: ABC News

In blow to FOIA advocates, Supreme Court blocks South Dakota newspaper from 'confidential' food stamp data

By DEVIN DWYER Jun 24, 2019, 3:07 PM ET

The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a blow to advocates of greater access to public information, ruling in a 6-3 decision that the government does not have to turn over private food stamp data it obtained from grocery stores to a South Dakota newspaper.

The paper, the Argus Leader, had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeking the names and addresses of all retail stores that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and each store's annual redemption data. The FOIA request did not involve any identifying information about food stamp recipients or how they used the federal government benefit.

The paper argued that it's in the public's interest to know how government spends tax dollars. But the retailers, represented by the industry group Food Marketing Institute, objected to release of the information, which it calls "confidential" and only shares with USDA under an expectation of privacy.

FOIA exempts disclosure of "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential."

Lower courts have interpreted the the statute as also requiring an objector to show "competitive harm" with the release and ruled in favor of the paper.

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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blow-foia-advocates-supreme-court-blocks-south-dakota/story?id=63914166

[Volaris]

1. Why would the newspaper want to publish this anyway, except to

Injure retailers that accept the fact that some people are below the poverty line, and are willing to make a portion of their profit margin on the fact that the govt is willing to help them feed themselves?

If there's something I'm missing , please let me know.