CEO DATELINE - U.S. Supreme Court to hear FMI case on release of SNAP benefits data
CEO DATELINE - U.S. Supreme Court to hear FMI case on release of SNAP benefits data
- March 21, 2019 |
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Walt Williams
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The U.S. Supreme Court will take up in April a lawsuit pitting a South Dakota newspaper against the Food Marketing Institute, which is arguing that information about how much food retailers are reimbursed under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program should be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests.
The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D., sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2011 after the agency refused to disclose data for how much individual grocers and other food retailers were reimbursed under SNAP, which is a federal program that helps poor individuals and families purchase food.
After a federal district court sided with the paper, USDA dropped the case in 2017 but FMI intervened on behalf of members. The association argues on its website that the release of individualized data could put its smaller members at a competitive disadvantage with their large competitors, while larger members believe the data could be used by online competitors to give them an advantage.
"We support (the Freedom of Information Act) and believe it is an important law that should be interpreted as written, but FOIA was not intended to open the books to a store's confidential business information or impede the competitive landscape," Jennifer Hatcher, chief public policy officer for FMI, said in a statement.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit upheld the lower court decision, ruling the release of data would not cause competitive harm to retailers, according to a summary by the Argus Leader. FMI appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to take up the case and has scheduled an April 22 hearing date for oral arguments. http://bit.ly/2Fo9507
The case is FMI v. Argus Leader Media.
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