Opinion ID: 476852
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Enforcement of the Subpoena

Text: 28 Appellant also challenges the substance of the district court's order by arguing that the trial court abdicated its responsibility in ordering enforcement of the subpoena. It contends that the court should have required the government to come forward with a more detailed showing that it had a good faith basis for issuance of the subpoena than it made in the Schofield affidavit that it submitted. Further, it contends that the trial court should have given appellants an opportunity, by an evidentiary hearing or by discovery, to ascertain the factual basis underlying the prosecutor's actions and the entire grand jury investigation. 29 The appellant's challenge to the sufficiency of the Schofield affidavit is almost identical to the argument it made, through the same counsel that argued this appeal, to the Schofield affidavit provided in support of the 1984 subpoena. We rejected those arguments last year in In re Grand Jury Matter (District Council 33), 770 F.2d 36 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 574, 88 L.Ed.2d 558 (1985). We held that the affidavit submitted by the government in support of the August 1984 subpoena met the requirements of Schofield I. The current subpoena is part of the same investigation that led to the issuance of the August 1984 subpoena and is supported by a nearly identical Schofield affidavit. 30 Appellant's suggestion of a change in circumstances that distinguishes the present subpoena from the prior one is frivolous. It bases the alleged change, which it contends substantiates its charge of harassment of Stout by the government, on two events: the fact that a county investigating Grand Jury, after investigating criminal allegations against Stout in connection with his management of the other appellants, chose to return no presentment against Stout or District Council 33; and the decision of the Court of Common Pleas that the City of Philadelphia had underpaid the Health and Welfare Fund. 31 Neither of these events bears on the right of the United States Attorney to proceed with an investigation before a federal grand jury. Since the county grand jury can only investigate crimes against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, its failure to indict Stout or anyone else related to him is patently irrelevant to the federal grand jury's investigation of whether a violation of a federal statute has occurred. See In re Grand Jury Proceedings (U.S. Steel), 525 F.2d 151 (3d Cir.1975) (vacating stay of federal grand jury proceedings pending completion of state proceedings). Moreover, the failure of the county grand jury to return a presentment is hardly the clean bill of health described by appellant. Patently, it would not preclude an independent federal investigation. 32 Similarly, the determination by the Court of Common Pleas that the City of Philadelphia had underpaid the District Council's Health and Welfare Fund has no bearing whatsoever on the validity of the 1985 subpoena. At most, that determination concerned whether Philadelphia had fulfilled its obligations to the union. 33 Appellant's suggestion that it is entitled to a hearing and discovery to determine the efficacy of not only the subpoena, but of the entire grand jury investigation, Brief of Appellants at 38, has no support in law or precedent. In United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 764, 35 L.Ed.2d 67 (1973) and United States v. Mara, 410 U.S. 19, 93 S.Ct. 774, 35 L.Ed.2d 99 (1973), the Supreme Court made clear that, as a general matter, there is no constitutional requirement that the government make any showing of reasonableness for the issuance of a grand jury subpoena. 34 This court, in the exercise of its supervisory power, has required some showing of relevancy to insure that the grand jury's subpoena power is not being misused by the prosecutor. See Schofield I, 486 F.2d at 93. We have never suggested that a witness or target is entitled to a roving inquiry into the efficacy ... of the entire grand jury investigation, as appellant requests. An affidavit of the U.S. Attorney substantiating the relevancy of the requested items to a properly authorized grand jury investigation has been held to satisfy the minimum showing requirements of Schofield I. Schofield II, 507 F.2d at 967. 35 Appellant suggests that because Stout has previously been investigated, the district court was required to view the 1985 subpoena as harassment. We have summarily rejected the contention of a company that its subjection to a succession of subpoenas constitutes a sufficient showing of harassment or bad faith by the government to warrant rejection of the Schofield affidavit. See In re Grand Jury (Schmidt), 619 F.2d 1022, 1028-29 (3d Cir.1980). Stout has been subject to nothing like the 4 1/2 year investigation by four strike force grand juries which we held in Schmidt was still subject to the presumption of regularity that attaches to grand jury proceedings. Id. 36 Our Schofield opinions have sought to preserve the proper balance between the grand jury's need to know and the rights of witnesses summoned before it. U.S. Steel, 525 F.2d at 158. They are not designed to permit witnesses to obstruct the legitimate function of the grand jury. Where a district court and the court of appeals have rejected a challenge to an earlier subpoena based on grounds indistinguishable in any practical sense from those underlying the current challenge, the inference is compelling that this repeated challenge to the Schofield affidavit is made solely for the purpose of delay.