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

Summary

Justice Barrett, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, held that FOIA’s deliberative process privilege protects the Services’ internal draft biological opinions because they were predecisional and deliberative, not final agency decisions. Neither their status as the Services’ last views on an abandoned proposal nor their practical influence on EPA made them final. The Court reversed and remanded, leaving segregability for the District Court. Justice Breyer, joined by Justice Sotomayor, dissented, reasoning that completed draft biological opinions ordinarily function as final determinations and should be disclosed. He would remand for a factual determination whether these documents were completed drafts or merely drafts of drafts.