A professor at the University of Georgia explores the U.S. Supreme Court’s FOIA decision-making in a forthcoming work entitled “Government Transparency and Judicial Deference: An Outcomes-Based Overview of Freedom of Information Act Litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court.” The author, Gbemende Johnson, summarizes her work in an abstract recently posted by SSRN:

This chapter explores U.S. Supreme Court decision-making in Freedom of Information Act Litigation. While few FOIA requests result in litigation, the Supreme Court plays a central role in providing guidance to agencies and requesters regarding executive branch autonomy over disclosure decisions, and the scope of transparency afforded by the Freedom of the Information Act. Overall, I find that the U.S. Supreme Court exhibits a substantial degree of deference to agency interpretations of the FOIA.

See full abstract here.