Nevertheless, the contours of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel available to corporations can be defined in both the criminal and civil contexts. Once the government files criminal charges against a corporation, the Sixth Amendment forecloses interrogation of the corporation outside the presence of corporate counsel. Although the district court opinion in Kilpatrick provides the only direct affirmation of this proposition, Sixth Amendment precedent bolsters the conclusion reached in Kilpatrick . The question, then, is whether interrogation of high-level corporate executives amounts to contact with the corporation itself. The relationship between corporations and their high-level executives provides the answer to this question.
Corporate executives possess the power to invoke a corporation's right to counsel.
Potashnick v. Port City Constr. Moreover, statements made by high-level corporate executives can be imputed to the corporation itself as admissions. In sum, a corporation can invoke constitutional rights and make binding inculpatory statements through its high-ranking executives. Thus, interrogation of corporate executives constitutes interrogation of the corporation itself. Civil Penalty Actions Against Corporations Courts traditionally have rejected assertions of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel in civil penalty proceedings on the assumption that the Sixth Amendment applies only after the filing of criminal charges.