In the case of Chrysler Corp. v. Brown, Secretary of Defense et al., 1978, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that federal agencies do not have inherent authority to disclose confidential information obtained from private businesses without explicit statutory permission. The court held that while there are statutes allowing for such disclosure under certain circumstances, they must be explicitly stated and cannot be inferred or implied by general provisions in other laws. This decision came after Chrysler Corporation sued William K. Brown (Secretary of Defense) and others to prevent them from disclosing cost-accounting data submitted by the company as part of its contracts with the Department of Defense (DoD). The DoD intended to release this information following a request made under Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), but Chrysler argued it was exempted due to being confidential financial information.

In the dissenting opinion for Chrysler Corp. v. Brown, Justice Brennan disagreed with the majority's view that private parties could not sue under the Trade Secrets Act to prevent disclosure of information by government agencies. He argued that Congress intended to create a private right of action when it passed this law and pointed out that courts had previously allowed such lawsuits in similar situations involving other statutes. Furthermore, he contended that allowing these suits would serve important public policy goals by encouraging businesses to share confidential information with the government without fear of unauthorized disclosure. Finally, he criticized the majority's reliance on an overly narrow interpretation of legislative intent and suggested they were ignoring clear evidence from both statutory language and legislative history supporting his position.