Susan B. Long and Philip H. Long v. Bureau of Economic Analysis, United States Department of Commerce

Ultimately at issue in this Freedom of Information Act case is whether the Bureau of Economic Analysis (“BEA”) is obligated to release to Susan and Philip Long certain computer tapes, now in the BEA’s posses sion, that were prepared by the Internal Revenue Service in connection with its Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program (“TCMP”). On the basis of the record before us, we affirm the district court’s rulings that FOIA’s Exemption 3 did not bar disclosure and that the BEA was not entitled subsequently to amend its answer to assert additional defenses to disclosure.

I. PROCEEDINGS BELOW

The Longs’ pursuit of TCMP data tapes has encompassed three different lawsuits and a span of seven years. We begin our analysis by reviewing the tortuous history of proceedings that has led to the present appeal by the BEA.

In 1975, after exhausting administrative remedies, the Longs filed an FOIA suit against the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) seeking TCMP data tapes for Phases II, III, and IV. The IRS objected to disclosure, contending that the records were exempt under FOIA’s Exemption 3 and 26 U.S.C. § 6103 and that the tapes contained taxpayer identification data, the deletion of which…