Opinion ID: 796408
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Parallel to Protection of Work Product in Civil Cases

Text: 138 The majority argues that we need not read Rule 16(a)(2) narrowly because it is not just a work product rule. Majority Op. at 1116. As the majority concedes, however, the Rules Advisory Committee, the Supreme Court, other courts of appeals, and our own court have all characterized Rule 16(a)(2) as a work-product exception. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 16 advisory committee's note (1975 Enactment); Armstrong, 517 U.S. at 463, 116 S.Ct. 1480; Fernandez, 231 F.3d at 1247; In re Grand Jury Subpoenas, 318 F.3d 379, 383-84 (2d Cir.2003); Virgin Islands v. Fahie, 419 F.3d 249, 257 (3d Cir.2005); Velsicol Chem. Corp. v. Parsons, 561 F.2d 671, 676 (7th Cir.1977); United States v. Fallen, 498 F.2d 172, 175 (8th Cir.1974). 139 Neither the language nor history of Rule 16(a)(2) suggests that the rulemakers intended to expand its protection beyond traditional work product—that is, protection of materials made by a party or its agent in connection with litigation, including, but not limited to, mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, and legal theories. The text of Rule 16(a)(2), the criminal work-product exception, differs somewhat from that of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(3), the civil work-product exception. But the important difference between the criminal and civil work-product rules lies not in the types of materials they protect, but rather in the fact that the criminal rule, unlike the civil rule, protects against the disclosure of work product even upon a showing of need. See Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(b)(3); Holmgren v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 976 F.2d 573, 576-77 (9th Cir.1992); In re Cendant Corp. Sec. Lit., 343 F.3d 658, 663 (3d Cir. 2003); In re Grand Jury Subpoenas, 959 F.2d 1158, 1166 (2d Cir.1992). There is nothing in the two rules to suggest that they define differently the government and its agents in describing the scope of the government's work product.