John Doe Agency and John Doe Government Agency v. John Doe Corporation

Decided December 11, 1989. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-1083 · 493 U.S. 146 (1989) · Cited 519 times

Holding

Exemption 7 may be invoked to prevent the disclosure of documents not originally created for, but later gathered for, law enforcement purposes.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• National Labor Relations Board v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co. · 437 U.S. 214 (1978)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation v. Abramson · 456 U.S. 615 (1982)
• United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press · 489 U.S. 749 (1989)
• Department of the Air Force v. Rose · 425 U.S. 352 (1976)
• Environmental Protection Agency v. Mink · 410 U.S. 73 (1973)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. · 421 U.S. 132 (1975)
• United States Department of Justice v. Tax Analysts · 492 U.S. 136 (1989)
• United States Department of State v. Washington Post Co. · 456 U.S. 595 (1982)
• United States Department of Justice v. Julian · 486 U.S. 1 (1988)
• Federal Open Market Committee of Federal Reserve System v. Merrill · 443 U.S. 340 (1979)
• United States v. Bisceglia · 420 U.S. 141 (1975)
• United States v. Weber Aircraft Corp. · 465 U.S. 792 (1984)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• United States Department of Justice v. Landano · 508 U.S. 165 (1993)
• United States Department of State v. Ray · 502 U.S. 164 (1991)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Harry Andrew Blackmun’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1989). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).