United States Dept. Of Justice v. Provenzano, 469 U.S. 14 (1984)

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

Syllabus

Held: Where certiorari was granted to consider the single issue whether Exemption (j)(2) of the Privacy Act of 1974 is a withholding statute within the third exemption of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), but after certiorari was granted the Privacy Act was amended to provide that no agency shall rely on any exemption therein to withhold from an individual any record otherwise accessible under the FOIA, the new legislation renders the issue moot. However, the cases themselves remain alive because the individual litigants still seek access to agency records and the Government still may assert that the records, or parts thereof, are exempt from disclosure under one or more of the FOIA exemptions. Such matters should be resolved by the courts below in the first instance.

717 F.2d 799 and 721 F.2d 215, vacated and remanded.