Corporations- No personal privacy

The Supreme Court today ruled 8-0 that corporations do not have a right of personal privacy which would prevent disclosure of documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts said that, despite the use of the terms “person” and “personhood” in describing corporations (and perhaps walking corporate rights back a tad after the Citizens United decision of last year), AT&T could not claim that a FOIA disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

The FCC had released some information under an open records request, but withtheld other documents over concerns that business secrets or humans’ privacy might be compromised. The trade secrets protection for corporations still stands.

Justice Kagan worked on the dispute while at the Justice Department, and did not take part in the case. (FCC v. AT&T, 09-1279).