Cite as: 510 U. S. 487 (1994)
Ginsburg, J., concurring in judgment
courts as relatively modest,4 to trump the Legislature's firmly declared interest in promoting federal-sector collective bargaining. I do not agree with the Court, see ante, at 498-499, that the Reporters Committee rule yielding these anomalies is indubitably commanded by FOIA.5
The Reporters Committee "core purpose" limitation is not found in FOIA's language. A FOIA requester need not show in the first instance that disclosure would serve any public purpose, let alone a "core purpose" of "open[ing] agency action to the light of public scrutiny" or advancing "public understanding of the operations or activities of the government." Instead, "[a]n agency must disclose agency records to any person . . . 'unless [the records] may be withheld pursuant to one of the nine enumerated exemptions listed in § 552(b).' " Department of Justice v. Tax Analysts, 492 U. S. 136, 150-151 (1989), quoting Department of Justice
4 Compare FLRA v. Department of Navy, Navy Ships Parts Control Center, 966 F. 2d 747, 759 (CA3 1992) (en banc) ("minimal" privacy interest); FLRA v. Department of Navy, Navy Resale and Services Support Office, 958 F. 2d 1490, 1496 (CA9 1992) ("minimal"); FLRA v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 958 F. 2d 503, 511 (CA2 1992) ("more than de mini-mis"); FLRA v. Department of Navy, Naval Communications Unit Cutler, 941 F. 2d 49, 56 (CA1 1991) ("modest"); Department of Air Force, Scott Air Force Base v. FLRA, 838 F. 2d 229, 232 (CA7) ("minuscule"), cert. dism'd, 488 U. S. 880 (1988); Department of Agriculture v. FLRA, 836 F. 2d 1139, 1143 (CA8 1988) ("modest"), vacated and remanded, 488 U. S. 1025 (1989); American Federation of Govt. Employees, Local 1760 v. FLRA, 786 F. 2d 554, 556 (CA2 1986) ("not particularly compelling"), with FLRA v. Department of Defense, Department of Navy, Pensacola Navy Exchange, 977 F. 2d 545, 549 (CA11 1992) ("important").
5 I do not question the result in Reporters Committee, shielding under FOIA exemption 7(C), 5 U. S. C. § 552(b)(7)(C), scattered bits of information relevant to criminal matters compiled in FBI "rap sheets." See FLRA v. Department of Treasury, Financial Mgmt. Service, 884 F. 2d 1446, 1460 (R. B. Ginsburg, J., concurring) ("privacy invasion threatened by release [to the union] of the bare names and addresses [of bargaining unit employees] pales in comparison to the privacy invasion threatened by [public] release of the rap sheet").
507
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