A Supreme Disappointment, Con't

Supreme Court Justice Amy Comey Barrett is going to be handing down decisions for decades, and nobody should be surprised that her first missive is substantially rolling back what can be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, because apparently the First Amendment isn't goddamn Constitutional enough.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett penned her first Supreme Court majority opinion on Thursday, writing a 7-2 decision that will shield federal agencies from having to disclose certain materials under an exception to the Freedom of Information Act. 

Barrett's debut majority opinion came in a case that was the first she heard as a justice, back on November 2. 

The case at hand concerned FOIA, a law designed to allow the public greater access to records from the government. It mandates the disclosure of documents held by a federal agency unless they fall within certain exceptions. 

On Thursday, the court narrowed the category of documents subject to release, dealing a loss to those seeking more government transparency and who argue that FOIA was meant to lift the curtain and give the public insight into a government's decision-making process. 

The Sierra Club and other groups had brought the challenge, seeking more information about an Environmental Protection Agency 2014 rule concerning the operation of cooling water intake structures and whether they would hurt protected species. 

Specifically, the groups sought records related to the US Fish and Wildlife Service's and National Marine Fisheries Service's consultations with the EPA. Although the services turned over thousands of documents, they invoked the "deliberative process privilege" for some draft opinions. 

"The deliberative process privilege protects the draft biological opinions at issue here because they reflect a preliminary view -- not a final decision -- about the likely effect of the EPA's proposed rule on endangered species," Barrett wrote. She said the drafts by the agencies never had final approval, hadn't been sent to the EPA and were "predecisional and deliberative."

 

Never ask how the sausage is made, it's "predecisional and deliberative". Disappointed in Elena Kagan, too, as she joined the six conservatives.

 

Still, expect decades of this from Barrett.