Opinion ID: 167649
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: New Privilege

Text: 86 While Qwest has disavowed any intention of seeking to create a new privilege for materials surrendered in a government investigation, that does not necessarily foreclose the subject. There is a principled position that the breadth of the selective waiver doctrine advocated by Qwest is the substantial equivalent of a new privilege. Qwest justifies its proposed new rule on a policy of cooperation with government investigations. It does not ground its advocacy on the purposes underlying the attorney-client privilege. At least one court has indicated that such justification is suggestive of a new privilege, rather than gloss on an ancient one. See Westinghouse, 951 F.2d at 1425. 87 More often than not, the Supreme Court has declined to recognize new privileges. In Branzburg, for example, the Court rejected a proposed journalists' privilege against being compelled to testify before a grand jury. 408 U.S. at 667, 92 S.Ct. 2646. In reaching its decision, the Court noted the proposed privilege was not recognized at common law, id. at 685, 92 S.Ct. 2646; some states had adopted it, but the majority had not, and that no federal statute had adopted it, id. at 689, 408 U.S. 665; the evidence did not support the dire consequences the privilege's proponents predicted, id. at 693, 92 S.Ct. 2646; even if the record had supported the need for the privilege, the public interest of pursuing and punishing criminal behavior would outweigh the interest in possible future news stories, id. at 695, 92 S.Ct. 2646; and there were daunting logistical difficulties in implementing the proposed privilege, id. at 703-04, 92 S.Ct. 2646. The Court suggested other government bodies, such as Congress or the state legislatures and courts, could consider implementing the proposed privilege. Id. at 706, 92 S.Ct. 2646. 88 In other cases, the Court has refused to adopt privileges for peer review materials, see Univ. of Pa., 493 U.S. at 189, 110 S.Ct. 577; for state legislators in federal criminal proceedings, see United States v. Gillock, 445 U.S. 360, 374, 100 S.Ct. 1185, 63 L.Ed.2d 454 (1980); for the editorial processes of the media in defamation action, see Herbert v. Lando, 441 U.S. 153, 175, 99 S.Ct. 1635, 60 L.Ed.2d 115 (1979); for the President to refuse to produce materials in a criminal proceeding, see Nixon, 418 U.S. at 713, 94 S.Ct. 3090; and for legislative aides to refuse to testify before a grand jury about actions not related to legislative activities, see Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606, 627, 92 S.Ct. 2614, 33 L.Ed.2d 583 (1972); see also Rubin v. United States, 525 U.S. 990, 119 S.Ct. 461, 464, 142 L.Ed.2d 413 (1998) (Breyer, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari in case in which the appellate court rejected a privilege for Secret Service agents for information learned while protecting the President). 89 A notable exception to this trend is Jaffee v. Redmond, where the Court recognized a federal psychotherapist-patient privilege under Rule 501. 518 U.S. 1, 9-15, 116 S.Ct. 1923, 135 L.Ed.2d 337 (1996). Noting that the possibility of disclosure might impede successful treatment, it concluded the privilege promoted the important public interest in the treatment of mental and emotional problems. Id. at 11, 116 S.Ct. 1923. The Court weighed the significant benefits of the rule with the modest evidentiary detriment, finding that in the absence of the privilege, much of the evidence that would otherwise be discoverable would not come into existence. Id. at 11-12, 116 S.Ct. 1923. Importantly, though, it also relied upon a consensus of reason and experience reflected in the adoption of a psychotherapist privilege, in some form, in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Id. at 12 & n. 11, 13, 116 S.Ct. 1923. In addition, it noted that a psychotherapist privilege was among the nine privileges originally proposed to be included in the Federal Rules of Evidence. Id. at 14-15, 116 S.Ct. 1923. 90 In this case, there are no grounds to buck the trend of declining to create a new privilege. There is no groundswell in the state legislatures for a privilege for materials produced in a government investigation. 8 Nor was such a privilege among the nine originally proposed for inclusion in the Federal Rules of Evidence. Further, the Supreme Court has indicated it is especially reluctant to recognize a privilege in an area where it appears that Congress has considered the relevant competing concerns but has not provided the privilege itself. Univ. of Pa., 493 U.S. at 189, 110 S.Ct. 577. In 1984, Congress rejected a SEC-proposed amendment to the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 that would have established a selective waiver rule. See Westinghouse, 951 F.2d at 1425 (citing 16 Sec. Reg. & L. Rep. 461 (Mar. 2, 1984)). More recently, the SEC withdrew a proposed regulation implementing selective waiver in light of questions about its authority to adopt such a regulation under the Sarbanes Oxley Act. See SEC Release Nos. 33-8185, 34-47276, Implementation of Standards of Professional Conduct for Attorneys, 68 Fed.Reg. 6296, 6312 (Feb. 6, 2003) (explaining withdrawal of 17 C.F.R. Part 205.3(e)(3)). All of these factors counsel against establishing a new government-investigation privilege and correspondingly counsel against adopting Qwest's proposed rule regardless of whether it be characterized as a new privilege or a new rule governing waiver.