Supreme Court: Fed must name banks that got emergency loans

WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court decided Monday not to stop the Federal Reserve Board from releasing documents identifying financial companies that received Fed loans to survive the financial crisis.

The high court, without comment, refused to hear an appeal from an association of bankers trying to keep the information from becoming public.

News Corp.s Fox News Network and Bloomberg had sued separately for details about loans that commercial banks and Wall Street firms received and the collateral they put up. Other news agencies, including The Associated Press, filed briefs with the appellate court in their support.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City had said such information isnt automatically exempt from requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

But the Fed argued that if it identified banks that drew emergency loans, it could cause a run on those banks, undermine the loan programs and potentially hurt the economy. The Fed acts as lender of last resort for banks that cant get money from private sources.

The Obama administration had asked the high court not to hear the appeal. But The Clearing House Association, which represents some of the nations largest banks, wanted the high court to review the decision.

In the Fox case, the appeals court ruled that the documents should be available for review by news organizations and the public.

In the Bloomberg case, the court rejected the Feds argument that identifying the banks and providing other information would harm them and discourage other distressed banks from seeking the Feds help. The court said the disclosure requirements under FOIA are set by Congress, not the court.

The Federal Reserve forgot that it is the central bank for the people of the United States and not a private academy where decisions of great importance may be withheld from public scrutiny,  said Bloomberg News Editor in Chief Matthew Winkler. As only Congress has the constitutional power to coin money, Congress delegates that power to the Fed and the Fed must be accountable to Congress, especially in disclosing what it does with the peoples money.

Congress last year passed legislation requiring the release of some of the information at issue in this lawsuit.

Justice Elena Kagan did not take part in this decision because she worked on the case while serving as solicitor general.

The cases were Clearing House Association v. Bloomberg, No. 10-543, and Clearing House Association v. Fox News Network, No. 10-660.

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