7(1)(a)

FOIA

Federal/State-law confidentiality — or public defender case files, for documents issued under the other amendment version

Federal/State-law confidentiality — or public defender case files, for documents issued under the other amendment version (see Sec. 7)

Read the full statute text on /statutes →

18 upheld (no violation found) · 23 rejected (violation found) · 6 partial violation · 10 closed / insufficient info / other, out of 57 documents.

Not legal advice, and not a per-exemption ruling — this reflects each document's overall disposition. See the FAQ disclaimer.

How the Public Access Counselor has treated 7(1)(a)

Section 7(1)(a) allows a public body to withhold information that is specifically prohibited from disclosure by federal or State law or by rules adopted under such laws. The prohibition must come from outside FOIA and must actually bar release, not merely recognize a general interest in confidentiality, privacy, or non-disclosure in other contexts.

In these decisions, the Public Access Counselor generally required public bodies to identify the specific prohibiting provision and show that it applied to the records at issue. Withholding was sustained for juvenile offender information, certain minor-related information, and genetic testing reports barred by the Genetic Information Privacy Act. Withholding was rejected where bodies relied on evidentiary or discovery rules, personnel-record laws, other cannabis-licensing confidentiality provisions, student-privacy law for directory-type or de-identified information, or a reading of juvenile or body-camera laws that did not prohibit disclosure.

At a glance: 57 documents from 2012 to 2026(18 binding opinions, 39 determination letters). Most often cited alongside: 7(1)(c) (Personal privacy) (19); 7(1)(b) (Private information) (17); 7(1)(f) (Preliminary drafts, notes, and deliberative materials) (8); 7(1)(d) (Law-enforcement/administrative-proceeding records) (4); 7.5(q) (Statutorily-confidential record set referenced via Sec. 7.5(q)) (3).

Recurring issues

Whether the Juvenile Court Act prohibits disclosure of an entire police report when a minor is involved as an offender, victim, or witness, or only the juvenile-protected portions. (Police reports of an incident at a high school, A police report of a sexual assault of a minor, Investigatory records on a minor's shooting death)
Whether general privacy, personnel-record, evidentiary, or discovery rules qualify as a law that specifically prohibits disclosure. (A private attorney's letter to a city law department, A mayor's termination letter to a village clerk, Redacted narrative sections of police arrest reports)
Whether student, applicant, or licensee names and addresses are barred from disclosure by student-privacy law or by confidentiality provisions in a separate licensing statute. (Names of first-time freshmen and graduation statuses, Applications for cannabis cultivation center licenses, De-identified student test scores)
Whether the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act or the Genetic Information Privacy Act prohibits disclosure of the requested recordings or reports. (Police body-camera footage of a motor vehicle accident, Police body-camera and dash-camera recordings of an in-custody death, DNA phenotype reports for an unsolved murder case)

Practical points

Identify the exact federal or State provision claimed to prohibit disclosure and explain how it applies to the specific information withheld.
When only part of a record is prohibited from disclosure, redact that portion and release the remaining non-exempt information, such as adult arrest-blotter information or de-identified data.
A conclusory citation without supporting explanation is insufficient, as the public body must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the exemption applies.

Summary drafted from the linked decisions and checked against them; read the decisions themselves before relying on it. Not legal advice.

7(1)(a)

How the Public Access Counselor has treated 7(1)(a)

Recurring issues

Practical points

All 57 documents citing 7(1)(a)