Supreme Court to Weigh Privacy and FOIA

By: Gina Holland, Associated Press Writer (AP) The Supreme Court is using a dispute over decade-old photos of a White House lawyer, who investigators say killed himself, to clarify when the government must release sensitive law enforcement records.

Vincent Foster's family argues that the post-mortem pictures should be kept out of supermarket tabloids and off the Internet. The government also is fighting their release, sought by a California attorney who suspects Foster was murdered.

Justices, during arguments at the court Wednesday, were weighing the family's privacy interest and the public's right to the information under an open records law.

Their ruling, expected before next summer, will determine how much information the government can keep off-limits because of privacy concerns.

The Bush administration told the court in a filing that thousands of pages of reports about the death and more than 100 photographs have already been released, and five government investigations unanimously concluded that Foster's death in 1993 was a suicide.

But Allan Favish believes 10 photographs taken when Foster's body was discovered could reveal evidence that points to murder. He already has reviewed the photographs that have been released, and some are posted on his Web site.

The court's intervention brings fresh attention to conspiracy theories that Foster's death was part of a White House cover-up.

Foster, 48, was found dead of a gunshot to the head in a park in Virginia. The longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton was handling several personal legal matters for them at the time, including their investment in the Whitewater real estate venture.

Foster's widow, Lisa, has said he was severely depressed and afraid that seeking treatment could jeopardize his career.

Favish sought the pictures under the Freedom of Information Act, a law that allows reporters and others to get unclassified government records that officials would not otherwise release.

The Supreme Court will clarify the part of the law that allows officials to withhold information that could cause "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

Favish, 48, says he has spent $5,000 of his own money pursuing the photos.

"I'm just a citizen who's very concerned about the integrity of the nation's law enforcement agencies," he said. "The dominant media totally dropped the ball on this case."

He is specifically interested in seeing patterns of blood at the scene and a possible bullet hole in Foster's neck. That hole was reported by one of the first paramedics on scene, an observation that conflicts with official reports of a single shot fired into the mouth.

The case is Office of Independent Counsel v. Favish, 02-954.