Opinion ID: 1936105
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: 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?

Text: 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.