States Can Restrict FOIA Requests to Their Own Residents, Says Supreme Court

Because ... because

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it's legal for a state to limit use of its Freedom of Information Act to its own residents.

The court unanimously upheld a federal appeals court decision validating Virginia's limitation of its FOIA law to state citizens and some media outlets.

In the case before the court, Rhode Island resident Mark J. McBurney and California resident Roger W. Hurlbert were suing Virginia for blocking them from getting public documents in Virginia that in-state citizens could have easily obtained. Virginia's FOIA law limits access to state citizens and some media outlets.

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The Virginia FOIA's citizen/noncitizen distinction has a non-protectionist aim. Virginia's FOIA exists to provide a mechanism for Virginia citizens to obtain an accounting from their public officials; noncitizens have no comparable need. Moreover, the distinction between citizens and noncitizens recognizes that citizens alone foot the bill for the fixed costs underlying recordkeeping in the Commonwealth. Any effect the Act has of preventing citizens of other States from making a profit by trading on information contained in state records is incidental. Umre Umre Fiyatlar?