CNA Fin. Corp. v. Donovan, 830 F.2d 1132, 1134 n.1 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (“The agency’s decision to release the data normally will be grounded either in its view that none of the FOIA exemptions applies, and thus that disclosure is mandatory, or in its belief that release is justified in the exercise of its discretion, even though the data fall within one or more of the statutory exemptions.”); see
Jurewicz v. U.S. Dep’t of Agriculture, 741 F.3d 1326, 1332 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (finding that a substantial privacy interest “must be balanced against any public interest in disclosure … [to the extent that] disclosure of the information sought would … let citizens know ‘what their government is up to.’”) (quoting
U.S. Dep’t of Def. v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth., 510 U.S. 487, 497 (1994)). Where CCI is concerned, however, the balancing of public interests may be inappropriate because the category overlaps with other laws that flatly forbid agencies from making unauthorized disclosures of commercial data.
CNA Fin. Corp. v. Donovan, 830 F.2d 1132, 1140 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (finding that 18 U.S.C. § 1905 “appears to cover practically any commercial or financial data collected by any federal employee” such that information that falls under Exemption 4 is barred from disclosure unless otherwise authorized). But, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has suggested a different interpretation — that § 1905 was intended to protect a narrower category of information than Exemption 4, thereby preserving some agency discretion to disclose information that falls within Exemption 4.
Gen. Elec. Co. v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm’n, 750 F.2d 1394, 1402 (7th Cir. 1984) (“Exemption 4 is broadly worded, and it is hard to believe that Congress wanted seekers after information to stub their toes on a rather obscure criminal statute almost certainly designed to protect that narrower category of trade secrets … whose disclosure could be devastating to the owners and not just harmful”).
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