United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

489 U.S. 749 · Decided March 22, 1989 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press was decided on March 22, 1989 unanimously (9–0). The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Freedom of Information Act and related laws” in the Privacy area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

United States Department of Justice et al. v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1988-059, docket 1988-059-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Freedom of Information Act and related laws”

• Public Citizen v. United States Department of Justice
  491 U.S. 440Decided June 21, 19898–0William J. Brennan Jr.
• United States Department of Justice v. Tax Analysts
  492 U.S. 136Decided June 23, 19898–1Thurgood Marshall
• John Doe Agency and John Doe Government Agency v. John Doe Corporation
  493 U.S. 146Decided December 11, 19896–3Harry A. Blackmun
• Church of Scientology of California v. Internal Revenue Service
  484 U.S. 9Decided November 10, 19876–0William H. Rehnquist
• Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale v. United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
  482 U.S. 522Decided June 15, 19879–0John Paul Stevens
• United States Department of State v. Michael D. Ray
  502 U.S. 164Decided December 16, 19918–0John Paul Stevens

See all

Cases on the same legal provision: Freedom of Information, Sunshine, or Privacy Act

• United States Department of Justice v. Julian
  486 U.S. 1Decided May 16, 19885–3William H. Rehnquist
• United States Department of Justice v. Provenzano
  469 U.S. 14Decided November 26, 19848–1Per curiam

Same Term, same area (Privacy)

• Public Citizen v. United States Department of Justice
  491 U.S. 440Decided June 21, 19898–0William J. Brennan Jr.
• United States Department of Justice v. Tax Analysts
  492 U.S. 136Decided June 23, 19898–1Thurgood Marshall
• Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
  492 U.S. 490Decided July 3, 19895–4William H. Rehnquist

See all

Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error