Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/18-481_5426.pdf
Page Number: 15.0

12  FOOD MARKETING INSTITUTE v. ARGUS LEADER MEDIA 

Opinion of the Court 

about  the  benefits  of  broad  disclosure.    But  as  JUSTICE 
BREYER has noted, when Congress enacted FOIA it sought 
a  “workable  balance”  between  disclosure  and  other  gov-
ernmental interests—interests that may include providing 
private  parties  with  sufficient  assurances  about  the 
treatment  of  their  proprietary  information  so  they  will
cooperate in federal programs and supply the government
with information vital to its work.  See Milner, 562 U. S., 
at 589 (dissenting opinion) (arguing for a broad exemption
from  FOIA  disclosure  obligations  to  honor  a  “workable 
balance” between disclosure and privacy). 

* 
At  least  where  commercial  or  financial  information  is 
both  customarily  and  actually  treated  as  private  by  its 
owner  and  provided  to  the  government  under  an 
assurance  of  privacy,  the  information  is  “confidential” 
within  the  meaning  of  Exemption  4.    Because  the  store-
level  SNAP  data  at  issue  here  is  confidential  under  that 
construction,  the  judgment  of  the  court  of  appeals  is
reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings
consistent with this opinion. 

It is so ordered.