Case Name: MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION v. COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF the MISSISSIPPI BAR
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1996-04-11
Citations: 672 So. 2d 1222
Docket Number: No. 92-B-00472-SCT
Parties: MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION v. COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF the MISSISSIPPI BAR.
Judges: SULLIVAN, P.J., and BANKS, McRAE, SMITH and MILLS, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 672
Pages: 1222–1227

Head Matter:
MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION v. COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF the MISSISSIPPI BAR.
No. 92-B-00472-SCT.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
April 11, 1996.
Michael C. Moore, Attorney General, Jackson, Larry E. Clark, Assistant Attorney General, Jackson, for petitioner.
Michael B. Martz, Jackson, for respondent.

Opinion:
ON MOTION TO QUASH SUBPOENA
PITTMAN, Justice,
for the Court:
I. INTRODUCTION
In this case we have supposedly conflicting interest of a Supreme Court designated committee and a state agency involving civil procedure, evidentiary rules, and constitutional law. The Committee on Professional Responsibility of the Mississippi Bar is petitioning this Court to affirm the issuance of a subpoena against the Mississippi Ethics Commission. There are three issues to be addressed:
1) DOES THE COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO ISSUE A SUBPOENA ITSELF, OR MUST IT OBTAIN A SUBPOENA THROUGH THE CLERK OF THIS COURT?
2) DOES MISS. CODE ANN. § 25-4-23 (1991 REV.) VIOLATE THE SEPARATION OF POWERS CLAUSE OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION?
3) DOES THE PRIVILEGE OF CONFIDENTIALITY PROTECTING THE MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION'S INVESTIGATIONS EXTEND TO MATERIAL IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN THROUGH THE MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION'S LITIGATION?
II. STATEMENT OF FACTS
This controversy arises over the Committee on Professional Responsibility's attempt, on May 2, 1992, to issue a subpoena against the Mississippi Ethics Commission. This subpoena required that the Mississippi Ethics Commission to produce records and files for review by the Committee, and for the Executive Director of the Mississippi Ethics Commission to be deposed by the Committee. The information requested concerned the activities of a state legislator who was also an attorney. The activities allegedly involved the association of this attorney with governmental and quasi-govemmental bodies that potentially violated the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct as adopted by the Supreme Court of Mississippi.
The Mississippi Ethics Commission responded with a motion to quash the Committee on Professional Responsibility's subpoena, on the ground that investigative files of the Mississippi Ethics Commission were confidential, under the Ethics in Government Act. Miss.Code Ann. § 25-4-23 (1991 rev.). However, the record reflects that some of this material has apparently been used in actions against this attorney/legislator.
III. ANALYSIS
1) DOES THE COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO ISSUE A SUBPOENA ITSELF, OR MUST IT OBTAIN A SUBPOENA THROUGH THE CLERK OF THIS COURT?
The Rules of Discipline for the Mississippi State Bar, regarding investigations of attorney misconduct, designate the Committee on Professional Responsibility as an agency of the Court. Indeed, the Committee is referred to as a special master of the court and the Committee is to function as a grand jury in matters of attorney discipline. See-Rules of Discipline for the Mississippi State Bar 3(e). The Court under these rules refers to the Supreme Court of Mississippi. Rules of Discipline for the Mississippi State Bar 1(a). All agencies of the Court who wish to issue subpoenas must apply to the Clerk of this Court to issue the needed subpoena. Rules of Discipline for the Mississippi State Bar 2(a).
In this case, the Committee on Professional Responsibility inexplicably issued the subpoena itself, instead of applying for a subpoena from the Clerk of this Court. This Court has before noted that the power and duty of disbarment is inherent in this Court. In re Higgins, 194 Miss. 838, 844, 13 So.2d 829, 831 (1943). "[I]t is a power implicit in the constitutional establishment of such courts that they shall have the authority to take such steps as will be necessary to their preservation and protection in the performance of those duties for which they were called into existence by the constitution itself." Id. The Committee on Professional Responsibility as an agent of this Court has a duty to investigate possible misconduct of an attorney on behalf of the Court. It is the Clerk of this Court who issues the subpoena to aid the Committee on Professional Responsibility in carrying out its duties. As a result, the subpoena issued is invalid, as it was not issued in accordance with the rules of this Court. Haywood v. Aerospec, Inc., 193 Ga. App. 479, 388 S.E.2d 367, 368 (1989) (holding improper subpoenas are unenforceable).
2) DOES MISS. CODE ANN. § 25-4-23 (1991 REV.) VIOLATE THE SEPARATION OF POWERS CLAUSE OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION?
Since this problem is capable of repetition, this Court will address the merits of this case, despite the failure of the Committee on Professional Responsibility's subpoena. See Southern Pacific Terminal Co. v. Interstate Commerce Comm'n, 219 U.S. 498, 515, 31 S.Ct. 279, 283, 55 L.Ed. 310 (1911).
Mississippi Code Annotated § 25-4-5 (Rev.1991) creates the Mississippi Ethics Commission. It is a statutory commission. Thus, it is subordinate to this Court and its agencies, including the Committee on Professional Responsibility. "[A] dependable and trustworthy bar is one feature, perhaps above all others, necessary to the proper performance of [the Court's] duties." In re Higgins, 194 Miss, at 844, 13 So.2d at 831. The Mississippi Ethics Commission cannot stand in the way of this Court exercising its constitutional duties by refusing to obey a properly issued subpoena.
In Hall v. State, this Court said that "[t]he making of rules of evidence to govern trials in our courts is a function at the core of the judicial power." Hall v. State, 539 So.2d 1338, 1339-40 (Miss.1989). Rule 501 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence states that "no person has a privilege to . refuse to disclose any matter." M.R.E. 501 (1995). The Mississippi Ethics Commission's interpretation of § 25-4-23 effectively abrogates Rule 501.
The powers vested in this Court by the Constitution of the State of Mississippi are very broad. "The judicial power has been authoritatively read as including the power to make rules of practice, procedure and evidence." Hall, 5B9 So.2d at 1345 (footnote omitted). To allow the Mississippi Ethics Commission to interpret a statute that effectively abrogates a rule of evidence is an encroachment upon this branch's inherent duty and constitutional authority. The statute may not extend the privilege of confidentiality to this Court when subpoenaed by this Court or an agency thereof.
3) DOES THE PRIVILEGE OF CONFIDENTIALITY PROTECTING THE MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION'S INVESTIGATIONS EXTEND TO MATERIAL IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN THROUGH THE MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION'S LITIGATION?
Mississippi does not have a direct case addressing whether confidential material used in litigation by a governmental agency retains its confidential nature. However, the federal courts have held that the use of confidential materials in litigation does not waive the confidentiality privilege for that material, even if publicly disclosed, in disputes about what the government must divulge under the Freedom of Information Act. Irons v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 880 F.2d 1446, 1448 (1st Cir.1989); Lame v. United States Department of Justice, 654 F.2d 917, 925 (3rd Cir.1981); Lesar v. United States Department of Justice, 636 F.2d 472, 491 (D.C.Cir.1980). The United States Supreme Court, although declining to answer this question, cited Irons when dealing with this issue in United States Department of Justice v. Landano, 508 U.S. 165, 113 S.Ct. 2014, 124 L.Ed.2d 84 (1993). The material injected into the public domain is still confidential. Given the interest in protecting the confidentiality of the information revealed to the Mississippi Ethics Commission, the fact that the information has been previously divulged should be irrelevant. However, the records, files, and the deposition of the Mississippi Ethics Commission are subject to a valid subpoena properly issued by this Court.
IV. CONCLUSION
The Committee on Professional Responsibility does not have the ability to issue a subpoena itself, and the motion to quash should be granted. In the event that the Committee on Professional Responsibility shall hereafter wish to pursue this matter, it may seek the proper issuance of a subpoena by the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Mississippi. All the material of the Mississippi Ethics Commission so subpoenaed should be produced to the Committee on Professional Responsibility when the Committee on Professional Responsibility tenders a valid subpoena.
MOTION TO QUASH SUBPOENA GRANTED.
SULLIVAN, P.J., and BANKS, McRAE, SMITH and MILLS, JJ., concur.
PRATHER, P.J., specially concurs with separate written opinion joined by DAN M. LEE, C.J., and BANKS, J.
BANKS, J., specially concurs with separate written opinion joined by DAN M. LEE, C.J., PRATHER, P.J., and JAMES L. ROBERTS, Jr., J.
. We might note that rules governing the Committee on Professional Responsibility provide for confidentiality which extends to the Committee and its staff and employees unless made public by the accused attorney or unless a public discipline is imposed.