Michael T. Albright v. United States of America

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge MIKVA.

MIKVA, Circuit Judge:

The Privacy Act forbids any government agency that “maintains a system of records” from maintaining, collecting, using, or disseminating any record of the exercise of an individual’s First Amendment rights. This case raises the issue whether an agency may make and keep such a record even if it is not subsequently incorporated into the agency’s system of records. The district court held that incorporation is necessary to trigger the applicability of the Act. We hold that the district court .erred in its reading of the Act,…