On March 7, 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Milner v. Department of the Navy that the government may not withhold certain information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Court's decision reversed the previous decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which held that certain information relating to ordinary employment matters and materials that could risk circumvention of agency regulation. This case originated when petitioner Glen Scott Milner filed an FOIA request with a US Navy magazine relating to the explosive safety quantity distance (ESQD) of explosives stored in a naval magazine near Milner's home.



Learn more about the Freedom of Information Act from the JURIST news archive.