Southwest Center for Biological Diversity v. United States Department of Agriculture

The only issue in this appeal is whether § 207 of the National Parks Omnibus Management Act (“1998 Parks Act”), 16 U.S.C. § 5937 , which creates a statutory exemption from the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), applies to the present *1061 case that was pending when that exemption was enacted. Congress expressed no clear intent on that question. Because we conclude that application of the exemption will not have an impermissible retroactive effect on the plaintiffs, we approve the general practice of applying the law in effect at the time the court renders its decision. We accordingly affirm the district court’s application of § 207 to this case.

Factual and Procedural Background

In March 1998, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity and Robin Silver, M.D. (collectively “the Center”), filed a FOIA request with the U.S. Forest Service regarding data the Forest Service had gathered on the Northern Goshawk, a rare western bird of prey that environmentalists have contended should be placed on the endangered species list. When the Center did not receive a response, it brought this action in the district court to compel the Forest Service to release the information.…