Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-530.pdf
Page Number: 11.0

Cite as:  562 U. S. ____ (2011) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

disclosure  of  drug  “treatment  or  counseling”  furthered  no
legitimate  interest  and  was  thus  likely  to  be  held  uncon-
stitutional.  Ibid. 

Form 42, in the Court of Appeals’ estimation, was even 
“more  problematic.”  Ibid.    The  form’s  “open-ended  and
highly  private”  questions,  the  court  concluded,  were  not 
“narrowly tailored” to meet the Government’s interests in 
verifying contractors’ identities and “ensuring the security
of the JPL.”  Id., at 881, 880.  As a result, the court held, 
these  “open-ended”  questions,  like  the  drug-treatment 
question  on  SF–85,  likely  violate  respondents’  informa-
tional-privacy rights.5 

Over  the  dissents  of  five  judges,  the  Ninth  Circuit 
denied  rehearing  en  banc.  568  F. 3d  1028  (2009).    We 
granted certiorari.  559 U. S. ___ (2010). 

—————— 

5 In  the  Ninth  Circuit,  respondents  also  challenged  the  criteria  that
they  believe  the  Government  will  use  to  determine  their  “suitability”
for employment at JPL.  Respondents relied on a document, which had 
been  temporarily  posted  on  the  JPL  intranet,  that  listed  factors  pur-
portedly  bearing  on  suitability  for  federal  employment.    App.  98–104. 
Among the listed factors were a failure to “mee[t] financial obligations,”
“health  issues,”  and  “mental,  emotional,  psychological,  or  psychiatric
issues.”  Id.,  at  98,  102.    Other  factors,  which  were  listed  under  the 
heading “Criminal or Immoral Conduct,” included “indecent exposure,” 
“voyeurism,” “indecent proposal[s],” and “carnal knowledge.”  Id., at 98. 
The  document  also  stated  that  while  “homosexuality,”  “adultery,”  and
“illegitimate  children”  were  not  “suitability”  issues  in  and  of  them-
selves,  they  might  pose  “security  issue[s]”  if  circumstances  indicated  a
“susceptibility  to  coercion  or  blackmail.”  Id.,  at  102.    The  Court  of 
Appeals rejected respondents’ “challenges to . . . suitability determina-
tion[s]” as unripe.  530 F. 3d, at 873.  Although respondents did not file
a cross-petition from that portion of the Ninth Circuit’s judgment, they
nonetheless  discuss  these  suitability  criteria  at  some  length  in  their
brief before this Court.  Respondents’ challenge to these criteria is not 
before us.  We note, however, the Acting Solicitor General’s statement 
at oral argument that “NASA will not and does not use” the document
to  which  respondents  object  “to  make  contractor  credentialing  deci-
sions.”  Tr. of Oral Arg. 22.