FBI v. Abramson

In FBI v. Abramson, 456 U.S. 615, 102 S.Ct. 2054, 72 L.Ed.2d 376 (1982), the Court held that information contained in records originally compiled for law enforcement purposes does not lose its exempt status under Exemption 7 of the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") when later summarized in records compiled for non-law enforcement purposes. To hold otherwise, the Court stated, would be to treat the "originally compiled record and the derivative summary ... completely differently although the content of the information is the same and although the reasons for maintaining its confidentiality remain equally strong." Id. at 625, 102 S.Ct. at 2061. The Court deemed it unnecessary to reach this anomalous result, finding the statutory language of FOIA Exemption 7 "reasonably construable to protect that part of an otherwise non-exempt compilation which essentially reproduces and is substantially the equivalent of all or part of an earlier record made for law enforcement uses." Id. This interpretation, the Court stated, "more accurately reflects the intention of Congress, is more consistent with the structure of the Act, and more fully serves the purposes of the statute." Id.