DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE v. JULIAN

Legal Principle at Issue

Whether the Freedom of Information Act requires federal agencies to disclose pre-sentence investigation reports to the individuals who are the subjects of those reports, or whether the reports are protected from disclosure under one of FOIA's statutory exemptions.

Action

Affirmed (includes modified). Petitioning party did not receive a favorable disposition.

Facts/Syllabus

The two respondents are federal prison inmates whose requests for copies of their pre-sentence investigation reports were denied by the Parole Commission. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(c), a probation officer prepares the pre-sentence report, which contains background information about the defendant and the circumstances of his offense, for use by the district court at sentencing. Under the rule, the court, before imposing sentence, must permit the defendant and his counsel to read the report, except portions containing diagnostic opinions, confidential sources of information, or information that, if disclosed, might cause harm to the defendant or others. After sentencing, the reports are typically transmitted to the Bureau of Prisons for its use, and then — pursuant to the Parole Commission and Reorganization Act of 1976 (Parole Act) — are sent to the Parole Commission for eventual use in determining whether a prisoner should be paroled. The Parole Act provides that, before a scheduled parole hearing is held, the prisoner must be given reasonable access to the report, but exempts the same three categories of information as Rule 32(c). 

After the Parole Commission denied their disclosure requests, respondents filed separate suits under the Freedom of Information Act, and multiple the district courts ordered disclosure. Consolidating petitioners' appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed, rejecting petitioners' contentions that pre-sentence reports are exempt from disclosure under both.