Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 446

524US2

Unit: $U92

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 399 (1998)

401

Opinion of the Court

Rehnquist, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Stevens,
Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined. O(cid:146)Connor, J.,
ﬁled a dissenting opinion, in which Scalia and Thomas, JJ., joined, post,
p. 411.

James Hamilton, pro se, argued the cause for petitioners.

With him on the briefs was Robert V. Zener.

Brett M. Kavanaugh argued the cause for the United
States. With him on the brief were Kenneth W. Starr and
Craig S. Lerner.*

Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the

Court.

Petitioner James Hamilton, an attorney, made notes of an
initial
interview with a client shortly before the client’s
death. The Government, represented by the Ofﬁce of Inde-
pendent Counsel, now seeks his notes for use in a criminal
investigation. We hold that the notes are protected by the
attorney-client privilege.

This dispute arises out of an investigation conducted by
the Ofﬁce of the Independent Counsel into whether various
individuals made false statements, obstructed justice, or
committed other crimes during investigations of the 1993
dismissal of employees from the White House Travel Ofﬁce.
Vincent W. Foster, Jr., was Deputy White House Coun-
sel when the ﬁrings occurred.
In July 1993, Foster met
with petitioner Hamilton, an attorney at petitioner Swid-
ler & Berlin, to seek legal representation concerning pos-
sible congressional or other investigations of the ﬁrings.
During a 2-hour meeting, Hamilton took three pages of

*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were ﬁled for the American Bar
Association by Jerome J. Shestack, William H. Jeffress, Jr., and Scott L.
Nelson, Jr.; for the American College of Trial Lawyers by Edward Brod-
sky and Alan J. Davis; and for the National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers et al. by Mark I. Levy, Timothy K. Armstrong, Lisa
B. Kemler, Steven Alan Bennett, Arthur H. Bryant, and Richard G.
Taranto.