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The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to use a case involving AT&T Inc. to consider whether a corporation can challenge the release of government documents as an infringement of the company’s privacy rights.
The justices today said they will hear the Obama administration’s appeal of a ruling that said corporations can invoke a provision in a federal document-disclosure law that protects against invasions of “personal privacy.”
The government says the U.S. appeals court ruling upset the decades-old understanding of the Freedom of Information Act, under which hundreds of thousands of requests are filed every year.
The ruling “likely also will result in the withholding of agency records to which the public should have access, including records documenting corporate malfeasance,” the administration argued in a brief filed by then-Solicitor General Elena Kagan.
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Filed under: 3. Access law | Tagged: Freedom of Information Act, Privacy, Supreme Court of the United States |
I am very concerned that AT&T will establish a precedence for all major corporations. Hiding their illegal activities will become a lot easier, if the Supreme Court upholds this assumption that Corporations have the same rights as individuals and are protected under the Constitution.
I don’t think it’s too dramatic to say that this case is potentially a major disaster….