Gene Policinski: Government is clearly still not transparent enough

  WASHINGTON — The national picture for Freedom of Information laws, celebrated during national Sunshine Week (March 13-19), is a bit brighter thanks to two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and some White House initiatives.

  But to give a twist on the old saying, “There’s a cloud in every silver lining.”

  In the last few weeks, the Supreme Court limited two major exemptions to the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In FCC v. AT&T, the Court said an exemption for “personal information” did not apply to information about corporations. And in Milner v. Department of the Navy, the justices forbade wide use of a “personnel” exemption they found was often used to withhold a broad range of materials.