No, this isn’t a big decision by the Supreme Court, but nevertheless it’s revealing. The case is Sack v. U.S. Department of Defense and the issue is whether students are entitled to reduced Freedom of Information Act fees as are “educational institutions.” In this Examiner piece, Hans Bader informs us that the D.C. Circuit ruled against the Obama administration’s position that students should have to pay the regular FOIA fees. He writes, “The statute itself draws no such distinction, but the administration argued that the courts should interpret the statute that way, because it is so interpreted in guidance from the White House Office of Management and Budget.” Ah yes — another bit of “guidance” from the feds. The judges didn’t buy it.

This seems like a small thing, but it’s a symbolic victory. Bader notes, “The Obama administration has shown a contempt for student rights, demanding censorship at the University of New Mexico and University of Montana in letters from political appointees in the Justice and Education Departments.”

Much as Obama panders to college students, he and his apparatchiks would probably like to deter student groups from using FOIA. Glad they lost this case.