Fed Given 60 Days for Supreme Court Appeal of Document Disclosure Order
Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Amanda Bennett talks about an appeals court's refusal to reconsider a decision compelling the Federal Reserve Board to release documents indentifying banks that might have failed without the U.S. government bailout. Unless the court stays its decision, the Fed will have seven days to disclose the documents. Bennett talks with Matt Miller on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg)
The Federal Reserve Board was given 60 days to decide whether to take a Freedom of Information Act case to the U.S. Supreme Court or disclose documents about loans it made to banks during the credit crisis.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York today acceded to the Fed’s request to delay implementation of a ruling that compels the central bank to release the reports, giving the bank until Oct. 19 to appeal. The clock began to run on Aug. 20 when the court refused to revisit its earlier ruling against the Fed.
At issue are 231 “term sheets” documenting Fed loans to financial firms during 2008. The records, which include the banks’ names and the amounts borrowed, were originally requested by the late Bloomberg News reporter Mark Pittman through the FOIA, which allows citizens access to government papers.
Attorneys for the central bank have not decided whether to take the next step and ask the Supreme Court to hear the case, Fed spokesman David Skidmore said.
The Clearing House Association LLC, an organization of 20 commercial banks that joined the Fed in opposing the request for documents, has said already it will ask the high court to rule on the case.
Greg Berardi, a spokesman for the Clearing House, declined to comment.
The Fed argued in the case, which was brought by Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, that disclosure of the documents threatens to stigmatize borrowers and cause them “severe and irreparable competitive injury,” discouraging banks in distress from seeking help.
The appeals court on Aug. 20 denied the Fed’s request to reconsider its decision requiring it to release records of the unprecedented U.S. assistance to financial firms.
‘It’s Disappointing’
“It’s disappointing that the board and the Clearing House have decided to further delay the release of these documents, particularly since both the district court and the court of appeals have held that the public has the right to see them,” said Thomas Golden, a partner with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York, Bloomberg LP’s attorneys in the case. “We remain confident that, sooner or later, the public’s right to know what its government has been up to will be vindicated here.”
The case is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 09-04083, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (New York).
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Ivry in New York at bivry@bloomberg.net.
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