NASA v. Nelson
| NASA v. Nelson | |
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| Argued October 5, 2010 Decided January 19, 2011 |
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| Full case name | National Aeronautics and Space Administration, et al. v. Nelson, et al. |
| Docket nos. | 09-530 |
| Citations | 562 U.S. 134 (more) |
| Prior history | temporary injunction granted, 506 F.3d 713 (9th Cir., 2007); District court denial reversed, 512 F.3d 1134 (9th Cir., 2008); vacated and superseded, 530 F.3d 865 (9th Cir., 2008); rehearing en banc denied, 568 F. 3d 1028 (9th Cir., 2009); certiorari granted, 559 U.S. 990 (2010) |
| Holding | |
| NASA's background checks of contract employees do not violate any constitutional privacy right. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Alito, joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor |
| Concurrence | Scalia, joined by Thomas |
| Concurrence | Thomas |
| Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| 5 U.S.C. § 552a | |
NASA v. Nelson, 562 U.S. 134 (2011), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that NASA's background checks of contract employees did not violate any constitutional privacy right.
In 2004, President George W. Bush, on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, issued a directive ordering new, uniform identification standards for federal employees, including contract employees. Previously, federal contract employees were not generally required to undergo background investigation, except as required by specific contracts. Pursuant to this directive, the Department of Commerce mandated that contract employees with long-term access to federal facilities must complete a background check and set an October 2007 deadline for completion of this effort. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a NASA facility that is operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) under government contract and hence is staffed entirely by contract employees, was subject to this requirement. In January 2007, NASA modified its contract with Caltech to include a new background-check requirement. All employees of JPL, including those deemed in low-risk positions, were informed that they must complete OPM form SF-85, which included an open-ended authorization to release effectively all personal information, or else they would be voluntarily terminated.
In August 2007, 28 JPL scientists and engineers including lead plaintiff Robert "Half" Nelson, a senior research scientist at JPL, sued NASA, Caltech, and the Department of Commerce in the District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that the background-check requirement violated a constitutional right to informational privacy. The district court denied a motion for a preliminary injunction, but the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's order. The circuit court held that portions of the background-check forms were likely unconstitutional, particularly portions requiring disclosure of drug treatment or counseling (which the court questioned whether the government had a legitimate interest in requiring), as well as open-ended questions soliciting "any adverse information" concerning financial integrity, mental stability, and "other matters" (which the court doubted were narrowly tailored to meet legitimate interests). The Ninth Circuit later denied rehearing en banc. The government appealed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
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