Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs v. Klamath Water Users Protective Association (532 U.S. 1)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 5, 2001 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 532 U.S. 1 · 121 S. Ct. 1060
- Decided
- March 5, 2001
- Term
- October Term 2000
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Souter
- Issue area
- Privacy
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court. Documents in issue here, passing between Indian Tribes and the Department of the Interior, addressed tribal interests subject to state and federal proceedings to determine water allocations. The question is whether the documents are exempt from the disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, as “intra-agency memorandums or letters” that would normally be privileged in civil discovery. 5 U. S. C. § 552(b)(5). We hold they are not. Í — 4 Two separate proceedings give rise to this case, the first a planning effort within the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, and the second a state water rights adjudication in the Oregon courts. Within the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) administers the Klamath Irrigation Project (Klamath Project or Project), which uses water from the Klamath River Basin to irrigate territory in Klamath County, Oregon, and two northern California counties. In 1995, the Department began work to develop a long-term operations plan for the Project, to be known as the Klamath Project Operation Plan (Plan), which would provide for allocation of water among competing uses and competing water users. The Department asked the Klamath as well as the Hoopa Valley, Karuk, and Yurok Tribes (Basin Tribes) to consult with Reclamation on the matter, and a…
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