Susan B. Long v. Internal Revenue Service

The Supreme Court has remanded this case to us for reconsideration in light of its recent decision in Church of Scientology of Calif. v. Internal Revenue Serv., 484 U.S. 9 , 108 S.Ct. 271 , 98 L.Ed.2d 228 (1987). When the matter was last before us, we held that the Internal Revenue Service had not fulfilled its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act, and we ordered the Internal Revenue Service to release the check sheets after deleting taxpayer identifying information. Long v. Internal Revenue Serv., 825 F.2d 225 (9th Cir.1987). The Supreme Court granted cer-tiorari, vacated the opinion, and remanded the case. Internal Revenue Serv. v. Long, 487 U.S. 1201 , 108 S.Ct. 2839 , 101 L.Ed.2d 878 (1988). Upon consideration, we reverse our prior decision regarding the check sheets and affirm the judgment of the district court.

A recitation of the long and tortuous history of the Longs’ attempts to obtain information from both the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Economic Analysis under the Freedom of Information Act would unduly extend this opinion. The litigation has now spanned fourteen years. We will outline only the facts essential to our holding today.

The…