Sixth Circuit Weighs in on Split Re Ability of Agency to Exempt Itself from Privacy Act's Civil Remedies Provision

Freedom of Information—Privacy Act

Shearson v. Department of Homeland Security
 (79 U.S.L.W. 2441) (May 2011)

May an agency exempt itself from the Privacy Act's civil remedies provision, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g), by properly issuing rules to exempt a records system? The Sixth Circuit joins the D.C. Circuit in holding that a record system may be excluded only when Section 552a(j) permits the information to be exempted. The Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth circuits, however, allow an agency to exempt material if the records system was exempted by properly issued rules.