Supreme Court of the United States

United States Fish and Wildlife Serv. v. Sierra Club, Inc.

March 5, 2021

Summary

The Court held that the deliberative‑process privilege bars disclosure of the Services’ in‑house draft biological opinions because they are predecisional and deliberative, even though they reflected the agencies’ last views on the EPA’s 2013 proposed rule. The judgment of the Ninth Circuit was reversed and the case remanded.