## Facts

- Glen Scott Milner sought records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) concerning the Navy’s storage of munitions at a naval installation in Washington State.
- The requested materials included explosives safety quantity-distance (ESQD) data and maps indicating separation distances intended to limit the effects of accidental explosions.
- The Department of the Navy withheld the records under FOIA Exemption 2, which protects matters “related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency,” asserting disclosure would threaten security.
- The district court granted summary judgment to the Navy.
- The Ninth Circuit affirmed under the “High 2” doctrine, treating predominantly internal materials as exempt if disclosure would risk circumvention of agency rules or law.
- The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve whether Exemption 2 supported withholding these records.

## Issues

1. Whether FOIA Exemption 2 permits withholding of predominantly internal agency records when disclosure would risk circumvention of the law (the “High 2” doctrine).
2. Whether explosives safety maps and data qualify as “internal personnel rules and practices” under Exemption 2.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit and remanded.
- Exemption 2 “encompasses only records relating to employee relations and human resources issues.”
- The ESQD maps and data did not concern personnel rules or practices and therefore could not be withheld under Exemption 2.
- The Court rejected the “High 2” doctrine as inconsistent with the statutory text and structure.
- On remand, the Navy could pursue other exemptions, including FOIA Exemption 7(F), if applicable.

## Legal Principles

- FOIA Exemption 2 is confined to human-resources and employee-relations materials (e.g., hiring, firing, discipline, work rules, payroll-type matters).
- Courts may not expand Exemption 2 to cover non-personnel information solely because it is predominantly internal and disclosure might facilitate circumvention of law.
- FOIA’s structure requires security- and law-enforcement-sensitive withholding to proceed, when available, under the statute’s specific law-enforcement exemptions (including Exemption 7 and potentially 7(F)) rather than by enlarging Exemption 2.

## Conclusion

The Court held that FOIA Exemption 2 does not authorize withholding explosives safety maps and data on a circumvention-of-law theory; Exemption 2 covers only personnel-related records, and the case was remanded to consider any other applicable FOIA exemptions.


Milner v. Dep’t of the Navy, 562 U.S. 562 (2011)