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In that case, telecommunications giant AT&T argues it has a right to make use of the Freedom of Information Act's personal privacy exception. It says the Federal Communications Commission should keep secret all the information it gathered from AT&T during an investigation into its participation in the federal E-Rate program, which helps schools and libraries get Internet access. The FCC had released some of the information under an open records request, but withheld some, citing FOIA exemptions that cover trade secrets and humans' right to privacy. AT&T argues releasing any information violates its right to personal privacy. An appeals court sided with AT&T. That is at odds with long-standing interpretations of the law, Kagan wrote. The ruling threatens to put up barriers to the release of information "concerning corporation malfeasance in government programs that the public has a right to review," Kagan told the justices. If Kagan is confirmed as expected and the court takes the AT&T case, she will have to recuse herself due to her past involvement. Besides the Medicare claims case, the Supreme Court declined to review two other open-records lawsuits in which Kagan argued that lower-court rulings letting the government keep information secret should stand. One involved Pentagon documents sought by a court-martialed Army private sentenced to death. In the other case, the government refused to release an Internal Revenue Service officer's time sheets. Obama, who appointed Kagan solicitor general and nominated her to the Supreme Court, has promised to govern transparently and directed the government to handle open records requests with the presumption that information can be disclosed. Agencies have discretion over whether to apply exceptions to the law that let them keep information secret in special circumstances. Asked whether Kagan's briefs reflect Obama's positions and say anything about how Kagan would rule on such cases as a justice, White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said: "The role of the solicitor general is to represent the American people and their government before the Supreme Court. It is not to represent their personal views before the court, nor do the positions they take in court necessarily reflect the administration's views
-- solicitors general have a duty to defend the laws that are on the books." The solicitor general is the government's top lawyer, but the job "has had a great degree of independence" and discretion over which cases to pursue, a description on the Justice Department website says. Justice and the White House declined to say if there were any freedom of information rulings against the government that Kagan decided against appealing.
[Associated
Press;
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