Argus Leader Media v. U.S. Dep't of Agric.

• Decision Date: 28 January 2014
• Docket Number: No. 12–3765.,12–3765.
• Parties: ARGUS LEADER MEDIA, doing business as Argus Leader, Plaintiff–Appellant v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Defendant–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

740 F.3d 1172

ARGUS LEADER MEDIA, doing business as Argus Leader, Plaintiff–Appellant

v.UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Defendant–Appellee.

No. 12–3765.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: Oct. 23, 2013.

Filed: Jan. 28, 2014.

Jon E. Arneson, argued, Sioux Falls, SD, for Plaintiff–Appellant.

Stephanie Carlson Bengford, AUSA, argued, Sioux Falls, SD, for Defendant–Appellee.

Before RILEY, Chief Judge, COLLOTON and KELLY, Circuit Judges.

RILEY, Chief Judge.

Formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or program) is one of America's largest and fastest-growing welfare arrangements: between 2007 and 2011, spending “more than doubled ... from about $30 billion to $72 billion.” ¹ Amid increasing public scrutiny of this burgeoning program, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, newspaper called the Argus Leader (Argus) wondered how much money individual retailers received from taxpayers each year through the program. Invoking the federal law meant to bring disclosure sunlight to the government bureaucracy, Argus requested this spending information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (department or USDA) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552. Cf. Louis D. Brandeis, Other People's Money 92 (1914) ( “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”). With little explanation, the department refused disclosure.

After an internal administrative appeal proved fruitless, Argus brought a FOIA suit in the District of South Dakota. The department moved for summary judgment, contending the information was exempt from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3)—known as FOIA Exemption 3—and 7 U.S.C. § 2018(c). Looking to legislative history and accepting the department's statutory interpretation, the district court found the spending information exempt from disclosure and granted the department's motion. Argus appeals. Concluding the statutory text plainly precludes the department from shielding the spending information under Exemption 3, we reverse.

I. BACKGROUND

The Food Stamp Act of 1964, Pub.L. No. 88–525, 78 Stat. 703, launched the program with a $75 million appropriation in its first year, rising to $200 million in its third. See id. § 16(a), 78 Stat. at 709. In fiscal year 2012, the program's total cost exceeded $78 billion, with more than 46 million people—over fifteen percent of the U.S. population—receiving benefits.² Most benefits go to needy families: 76 percent of SNAP households include “a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person” and “these households received 83 percent of all benefits.” ³ An estimated $858 million per year is “trafficked,” meaning “SNAP recipients sell their benefits for cash at a discount to food retailers,” and approximately ten percent of participating retailers engage in trafficking.⁴

A. Administrative Proceedings

On February 1, 2011, Argus sent a letter to the department requesting “yearly redemption amounts, or EBT sales figures, for each store” participating in the program between fiscal years 2005 and 2010. Beneficiaries receive an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card, which functions like a debit card. To use the card at a participating retailer, beneficiaries swipe their EBT card and enter a four-digit personal identification number at checkout. As with any other debit card transaction, a third-party processor deducts the transaction amount from the beneficiary's account and credits it to the retailer's account. Such third-party processors “handle and track [program] benefit accounts,” then send transaction data to the department. Although the days when retailers had to redeem physical food stamps have long passed, the department still refers to this electronic process as a “redemption.” After receiving transaction data from the third-party processors, the department loads each retailer's aggregated data into a government database.

The department appears to concede that it could use this database to supply the information requested by Argus. The department simply refuses to do so. In an undated letter received February 17, 2011, the department revealed the names and addresses of all participating retailers, but withheld “all other information ... under 5 U.S.C. [§ ] 552(b)(3) and (b)(4).” In a letter dated February 25, 2011, Argus appealed this withholding. The department denied the appeal in another undated letter.

B. Article III Proceedings

On August 26, 2011, Argus filed a complaint under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B) in federal court seeking to compel the department to provide the withheld information. The department moved for summary judgment, invoking Exemption 3, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3).

On September 27, 2012, the district court granted the department's motion. First, the district court decided 7 U.S.C. § 2018 qualified as a withholding statute under Exemption 3. Second, the district court found the retailer spending information was exempt from disclosure because it was “the type of information that can be obtained under the authority of § 2018”—though, in practice, it is not obtained from the individual retailers. (Emphasis added). Consulting legislative history, the district court thought a 1994 amendment to § 2018 “demonstrate[d] that all types of information that relate to tax, income, or redemption data that is [sic] correlated with participation in [the program] is to be withheld in all instances except internal administrative purposes or for law enforcement's use.” The district court determined the department was entitled to withhold the data. Argus appeals, invoking our jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II. DISCUSSION

We “perform[ ] a de novo review of the grant of summary judgment in a FOIA case.” Mo. ex rel. Garstang v. U.S. Dep't of Interior, 297 F.3d 745, 749 (8th Cir.2002). A government agency is not entitled to summary judgment in a FOIA case unless “the agency proves that it has fully discharged its obligations under FOIA, after the underlying facts and the inferences to be drawn from them are construed in the light most favorable to the FOIA requester.” Miller v. U.S. Dep't of State, 779 F.2d 1378, 1382 (8th Cir.1985). “In order to discharge this burden, the agency ‘must prove that each document that falls within the class requested either has been produced, is unidentifiable, or is wholly exempt from the Act's inspection requirements.’ ” Id. at 1382–83 (emphasis added) (quoting Nat'l Cable Television Ass'n, Inc. v. FCC, 479 F.2d 183, 186 (D.C.Cir.1973)).

A. Statutory Text

“Our analysis begins, as always, with the statutory text.” United States v. Gonzales, 520 U.S. 1, 4, 117 S.Ct. 1032, 137 L.Ed.2d 132 (1997). The relevant text of FOIA Exemption 3 allows agencies to withhold information that is

specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than [5 U.S.C. § 552b] ), if that statute—

(A)(i) requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue; or

(ii) establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld[.⁵]

5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3) (emphasis added). The department contends the spending information is “specifically exempted” by 7 U.S.C. § 2018(c). Argus does not dispute that § 2018(c) is a withholding statute (i.e., one that “requires,” “establishes,” or “refers” to non-discretionary or particular withholding of information).

Instead, Argus challenges the district court's conclusion that program spending information falls within the withholding contemplated by § 2018(c). Again, we look to the relevant statutory text:

(c) Information submitted by applicants; safeguards; disclosure to and use by State agencies

Regulations issued pursuant to this chapter shall require an applicant retail food store or wholesale food concern to submit information, which may include relevant income and sales tax filing documents, which will permit a determination to be made as to whether such applicant qualifies, or continues to qualify, for approval.... Regulations issued pursuant to this chapter shall provide for safeguards which limit the use or disclosure of information obtained under the authority granted by this subsection.... Any person who publishes, divulges, discloses, or makes known in any manner or to any extent not authorized by Federal law (including a regulation) any information obtained under this subsection

shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.

7 U.S.C. § 2018(c) (emphasis added).

Because the retailer spending information is not “submit[ted]” by “an applicant retail food store or wholesale food concern,” id., the information is not exempt from disclosure. The department, not any retailer, generates the information, and the underlying data is “obtained” from third-party payment processors, not from individual retailers. See, e.g., Brian A. Garner's Modern American Usage 74 (3d ed.2009) (defining “obtain” as “to get, acquire”); Webster's Third New Int'l Dictionary 1559 (1993) (defining “obtain” as “to gain or attain possession or disposal of”). Neither of the forms used to determine whether a given retailer “qualifies” or “continues to qualify” as a program participant asks for the spending information. These plain textual reasons for rejecting the department's position mean we need not rely on the Supreme Court's admonition that FOIA exemptions “must be ‘narrowly construed,’ ” Milner v. Dep't of Navy, 562 U.S. ––––, ––––, 131 S.Ct. 1259, 1262, 179 L.Ed.2d 268 (2011) (quoting FBI v. Abramson, 456 U.S. 615, 630, 102 S.Ct. 2054, 72 L.Ed.2d 376 (1982)), to conclude retailer spending information is not “obtained under the authority granted by” § 2018(c).

Our plain reading is further confirmed by the subsection heading, which refers to “Information submitted by applicants.” 7 U.S.C. § 2018(c) (emphasis added). A subsection “heading cannot substitute for the operative text of the statute.” Fla. Dep't of Revenue v....